| I don't see anywhere where he actually did a test for the wattage consumed. He merely went by the manufacturer ratings. I tried two different ballasts with different wattage ratings and found that the 55W ballasts does indeed result in brighter output. Whether the higher-wattage ballasts are "overdriving" the bulbs, I don't know. But if it is overdriving the bulbs, then it is indeed over 35W. I had a set of 4300K bulbs with 55W ballasts. I don't recall the brand. One of the ballasts randomly turns off, so I purchased a cheap-o 5300K kit with 35W ballasts. I wasn't satisfied with the amount of lighting of the new kit, so I decided to try different combinations of the two kits. It turns out the 5300K bulbs (or whatever the correct term is for it) and the 55W ballasts gave me what I was looking for -- color and brightness. And for some reason now, the ballast doesn't randomly die anymore. Go figure. So I have a set of new (used twice to test only) and a set of 2-year-old 4300K bulbs left over.
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