600W Dimmable ballast, what light?

Hi All,

I'm planning on upgrading my grow room with a new ballast, I want to buy a dimmable one with a super lumens output. I usually stick to the Phillips HPS Son-T Lights, my question.

Can I use this light with a dimmable ballast? Will it work on all settings (250w 400w 600w 660w)?

wrong section, but you should never dim most hid bulbs===== spectral shift/faster lumen depreciation/lower efficiency

good luck

Yea, if you get the right wattage bulb you should be fine. Just a quick search found only 400w bulb though, do they come in higher outputs or only at 400w? If only at 400w you could still use a 600w dimmable ballast you'd just have to dim it down so you don't overclock the bulb.

so best would be to switch out the bulbs rather than dimming voltage?

What PSUAGRO said though, you really don't want to dim a bulb if you don't have to. I'd just look for a different brand 600w bulb if those phillips don't come in any higher wattage so you don't have to dim it or go with a 400w ballast, one or the other.

@PSUAGRO. I could only find 3 light sections, so forgive me if its in the wrong section

EpicAhren said:

so best would be to switch out the bulbs rather than dimming voltage?

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Yes

@astronautrob I use a 600w Phillips son-T HPS light which I want to dim to 250, then 400.

thanks for the info though! Guess I'll just buy an extra light haha

Oh ok, gotcha. Yea then I'd just go with the 600w bulb and dim it, unless you really want to spend the money and buy 3 different bulbs. Granted, it probably is best to do 3 different bulbs, but it's not that big of deal to dim a bulb for awhile. I have a 400w that I dim when I have seedlings so it doesn't give them too much light and it works fine for me.

It depends on the ballast, some start off at full power and then dim. I forget who does that, I've lost interest in HID.

@astronautrob thats exactly why i want tot dim how long will my light last if i dim it once a round? it do 3 rounds a ligt at the moment

EpicAhren said:

@astronautrob thats exactly why i want tot dim how long will my light last if i dim it once a round? it do 3 rounds a ligt at the moment

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I mean, I can't really give you an exact time frame for how long the bulb will the last, that depends on the manufacturer, how well it's made, etc., but tbh I've never heard of dimmable ballast shortening a bulbs life (not saying it can't just hasn't in my experience). I replace my bulbs every other grow anyways because they naturally lose effectiveness over time, whether you dim them or not. I've never used a bulb till its "gone out", so to speak.

every other round sounds like a good one, I'll stick to that! thanks!