KaliKitsune
Well-Known Member
Have you seen the Icecap ballast? It can drive ANY bulb you attach to it. You can mix and match T5 with T12 bulbs and it doesn't care.well if you are such a specialist in T5 lighting you would know that you CANNOT run a 39W/HO/T5 lamp on a 54W/HO ballast...
Energy is energy. There is nothing built directly into the bulb itself to restrict power flow, except the very nature of the components that make the bulb. Thus, you *CAN* overdrive it. I'm powering a 7 watt T5 bulb with a 20 watt 9V power supply - it takes it just fine and works, and it's much brighter.
As for shorter bulb life when overdriving - that doesn't happen if you get a ballast that outputs in high frequency ranges, like 10KHz as opposed to 50/60 or 100/120 Hz for standard lighting.