I've heard some people say that the length of the cord between the ballast and the bulb should be as short as possible, is this right? I'm assuming that long cords would if this is correct, affect light intensity...
PLZ enlighten my on this..
The cord between your ballast and lamp works like a antenna and puts out RFI.
Also you cant roll kabel to a coil.
It will heat up and melt.
Keeping the cable as short as possible is good advice.
I think it has more to do with the thickness of the cords and the amount of resistance the electricity has to overcome. Thicker gauge cords = less resistance, for longer runs. Smaller gauge cords = more resistance, limiting the length of run.
for ballasts and long leads you need to be more aware of the capacitance of the lamp cord. The current that goes through the cord is limited, about 5 amps max.
Also there is a lot of quality difference in cables.
i run the 15ft with 10 ft extensions when i need it. never had any issue whatsoever, even looking at 2 bulbs side by side one 15ft one 25ft they fire off together and warm up the same, and burn as brightly (to my human eyes and my cheapo light meter both)
Feel where the splices/cords connect to the ballast/boxes... if it feels warm... the load is pretty high & maybe you should put a meter on it or start to wonder about reworking the electrical/wiring.
the only issue with cord length from the ballast to the bulb is this:
the ignitor
most ignitors will tell you the total distance u can go from ignitor to bulb.
depending on the quality of the part, it varies.
best advice for people who want to have long runs from the ballast to the bulb is this:
buy a core kit, wire it yourself and wire the ignitor near the hood.
of course 99/100 of you buy plug and play ballast and not kits.
p.s. this only refers to HPS ballats
a MH ballast is EXACTLY the same as a HPS ballast, minus the IGNITOR
one good advice whatever cable you use: Don't lay it parallel to the ballast power cord. That could cause interference on the power grid but also high frequency feedback into your digital ballast which is potentially harmful. Machines are amplifiers.