what do i need for a halide setup?

[Chad Vossen]

im a bit of a noob with halides and am not sure what all i will need.
a "halide setup" is made of:
bulb
ballast
socket
reflector

right? if i buy the ballast and a socket (i think its called something else for halides), do i need to buy additional wires? and if i buy an electronic ballast, i can get pretty much any bulb? with an E-ballast, does it matter if i get a DE or SE bulb?

if its a SE then it comes with the UV sheild build into the bulb right? and the DE requires a shield to be added. correct?

am i missing anything? im going to try and buy all my parts separate if i cant find a complete setup.

[christensonjes]

yep thats all the parts. when you buy the ballast it comes with the wiring harness.

you need different ballasts for SE and DE.

Look up Sanjay Joshi on the net. He is a hobbyist that has done many many tests on halides. That would be a good start.

From what I see most people here use SE halides

Yes SE has UV shield built in, DE needs a seperate shield.

Hellolights.com is good halide store. If you have time to spare you can buy all the parts as they come up for sale here

[patent]

if i buy the ballast and a socket (i think its called something else for halides), do i need to buy additional wires? It depends on the ballast, some come with wires, some don't. The old Icecaps needed two sets of wires, one for the plug into the wall outlet, and one to reach the socket. Even if you buy one with the wiring included, depending on where you mount the ballast, how far from the socket it is, you may want additional wiring.

The PFO ballast requires a connection between the ballast and the socket, so you'd need that.

I would suggest picking which ballast you want, and then its easy to say which cords you need.

patent