Dimmable Ballasts

I have a 1000w Lumatek dimmable ballast and have always ran it at 100% capacity. I have been toying with the idea of dimming it down to 600w. Now if I run it at 600 watts will that affect the longevity of the ballast?

Most dimmable ballasts are designed to run at lower wattages with thè correct wattage lamp for the setting.

1000w lumatek on 100% or SL setting use 1000w lamp.

1000w lumatek on 600w setting should use a 600w lamp.

If you look in the data booklet with the ballast lumatek recommends using the correct wattage lamp for the ballast setting used.

Its mainly due to PAR differences when a lamp is dimmed.


J

I usually run cheap 1k bulbs and dim them when my temps get too high. Dimming a bulb can shorten the life but I replace them once a year.

i run galaxy's, only 1 is dimmable, a 600. never had problem in 2 years i ran it, without switching bulbs. not many run galaxy's because of price i guess, but i have 2-3 i've been running for 7-8 years without failure or an over abundance of blown bulbs...peace

It's not the bulbs that blow from being dimmed.

Most hps bulbs and MH bulbs are capable of being dimmed to 50%.

However the light they produce is different to the full wattage. PAR is the main factor when dimming bulbs. As you dim PAR changes due to less wattage.



J

A common misconception is that you have to use the same wattage bulbs when dimming. People seem to think that if the ballast is dimmed to 600 that they need a 600w lamp. Not true. It even says on the instructions inside galaxy ballasts " A 1000 watt bulb can be turned down to 600, 400, or even super charged to 1100 watts." Nowhere is there any evidence that dimming your bulbs will shorten the life of them. running lower wattages on dimmable settings will not shorten the life of the ballast. They were engineered to work that way, by the manafacturer... In the summer, due to heat issues, I run my 1k hortilux bulbs at 600, and sometimes at 400. I change bulbs every year. Never ONCE had any blowouts... As far as the PAR goes and the spectrum of the bulb, when dimmed, I believe there are discrepencies there. Nothing serious enough to stop me from getting in a summer harvest...

Advanced electronic ballasts may allow dimming via pulse-width modulation or via changing the frequency to a higher value.

Ive used the dimmable 1000 watt lumateks for a couple years and dimming doesnt seem to mess with the life of the bulbs. Ive done whole rounds at 750 in the summer,and i usually dim down to 750 for the last week or two of flowering sometimes. The guy at the hydro shop (yes I know probably full of shit) told me the thing that can run them down faster is when you run them at superlumens/1100 watt mode for long periods of time.

BustinScales510 said:

Ive used the dimmable 1000 watt lumateks for a couple years and dimming doesnt seem to mess with the life of the bulbs. Ive done whole rounds at 750 in the summer,and i usually dim down to 750 for the last week or two of flowering sometimes. The guy at the hydro shop (yes I know probably full of shit) told me the thing that can run them down faster is when you run them at superlumens/1100 watt mode for long periods of time.

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Correct. Most super lumen switches are for getting one more run out of your lamp that you would otherwise be changing through lumen loss etc.

Personally though I don't ever use the SL feature on my lumatek.



J

Crap, been using the bloom boost on my brand new Ushio bulb for the past 20 days.... might switch back to regular 600w in the morning before the bulb fires... been running for past 5+ hours on bloom boost. Will have to research Solis-Tek ballasts and how much life they suck out with the boost.

Cool, looks like I got the answer from their site (if they are not fibbing)
http://solis-tek.com/digital-ballasts/solistek-600-digital-ballast.html
"Solis Boost Overdrive:
SolisTek's overdrive does not harm the longevity of the lamp. Contrary to industry standards, Solis Boost
will only overdrive the lamp by 5%. Because STK ballasts are rated so efficiently, the extra boost in
power will not affect the lamps lumen depreciation or shorten lamp life"

I believe the initial question was if the ballasts have a shortened life span when dimmed, not the bulbs.

you can use a 1000w bulb dimmed to 600w but never use a 600w bulb amped up to 1000w.

and when you dim a 1000w bulb to 600w your losing lumens and light. the proof is in the observation. dim the light down to 600w with a 1000w ballast and it obviously gets dimmer. i believe if you had a 600w bulb in there running at 600w setting it will be much brighter than the 1000w bulb running at 600w...dont

me on this one but do some simple observation tests. and if you have a light meter all the better.

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penguinking said:

A common misconception is that you have to use the same wattage bulbs when dimming. People seem to think that if the ballast is dimmed to 600 that they need a 600w lamp. Not true. It even says on the instructions inside galaxy ballasts " A 1000 watt bulb can be turned down to 600, 400, or even super charged to 1100 watts." Nowhere is there any evidence that dimming your bulbs will shorten the life of them. running lower wattages on dimmable settings will not shorten the life of the ballast. They were engineered to work that way, by the manafacturer... In the summer, due to heat issues, I run my 1k hortilux bulbs at 600, and sometimes at 400. I change bulbs every year. Never ONCE had any blowouts... As far as the PAR goes and the spectrum of the bulb, when dimmed, I believe there are discrepencies there. Nothing serious enough to stop me from getting in a summer harvest...

Click to expand...

Do you hear a high pitched sound when you under dim a lamp from it's rated wattage? I hear it, and it makes me think it's causing premature wear on the lamp.

As long as the dimming is done with hps and not mh. I talked to techs from both Lumatek and Digilux and they say dimming mh bulbs causes a great loss of blue spectrum.

Penguinking is correct, I missed that to. Question is about ballast not bulb. Ballasts are not damaged at all by dimming, maybe bulbs are not either, but in mh spectrum is lost.

@ PJ. I have heard that buzz that you are talking about but it was due to a faulty ballast. I bought a brand new galaxy 1000W dimmable and when i got home and plugged it in, it worked just fine on the 1000 setting. As soon as i dialed it down, it started to buzz, and then it just stopped working. I took the ballast back to the store, they replaced it, and said that was not supposed to happen, and if it did, you got a faulty ballast.

@ retiredmatt : There is most definitely a noticeable difference in lumen output when dialed down. I can see it with my eyes. I dont have a light meter, though. It would be a great test and find out just how efficient the bulbs are when dialed down. I know that a 400W lamp, on a 400W ballast produces roughly 50,000 lumens(dependent on lamp brand). Anyone with a light meter?? It would be great to have a real answer..

blessings- PK

penguinking said:

@ PJ. I have heard that buzz that you are talking about but it was due to a faulty ballast. I bought a brand new galaxy 1000W dimmable and when i got home and plugged it in, it worked just fine on the 1000 setting. As soon as i dialed it down, it started to buzz, and then it just stopped working. I took the ballast back to the store, they replaced it, and said that was not supposed to happen, and if it did, you got a faulty ballast.

@ retiredmatt : There is most definitely a noticeable difference in lumen output when dialed down. I can see it with my eyes. I dont have a light meter, though. It would be a great test and find out just how efficient the bulbs are when dialed down. I know that a 400W lamp, on a 400W ballast produces roughly 50,000 lumens(dependent on lamp brand). Anyone with a light meter?? It would be great to have a real answer..

blessings- PK

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It's not the ballast buzzing I'm talking about, it's the lamp. Something in there seems to be oscillating at an abnormal frequency. It only happens when I underwatt, but not when I over watt. I've actually been wanting to take some light readings at different dim levels, so maybe I'll do that soon..

penguinking said:

There is most definitely a noticeable difference in lumen output when dialed down. I can see it with my eyes. I dont have a light meter, though. It would be a great test and find out just how efficient the bulbs are when dialed down. I know that a 400W lamp, on a 400W ballast produces roughly 50,000 lumens(dependent on lamp brand). Anyone with a light meter?? It would be great to have a real answer..

blessings- PK

Click to expand...

OK, I just ran some numbers for you. Prolly not exactly what you're looking for because I'm already running a mismatched lamp (250w) in my 400w dimmable ballast. Also, my 600 ballast isn't dimmable. I was gonna swap through a bunch of different bulbs and take photos and do an extensive test for you, but then I got lazy and remembered I have to trim a couple small plants tonight too, so anyway..

The tests were done using the following lamp/ballast combo -- the 400w is a dimmable revolt ballast with 50%, 75%, and 100% settings -- the 600w is a galaxy non-dim:

Reflector A:
400w ballast @ 75% setting w/250w HPS lamp (this is how I normally run my 32"x32" tent) = 6500 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 50% setting w/250w HPS lamp = 5100 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 100% setting w/250w HPS lamp (no, I'm not afraid to over-watt) = 8000 foot candles @ canopy level

Reflector B:
600w ballast w/600w HPS lamp = 9500 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 100% w/600w HPS lamp = 6200 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 75% w/600w HPS lamp = 4400 foot candles @ canopy level

Hope this helps.

My environmental controller has a sensor with a built-in light meter. I have Phantom 1000w dimmable ballasts. From what I've noticed using HPS, the 75% setting is just about exactly 75% of the 100% setting. However, the 60% setting is only about 40% of the 100% setting. Also with MH/HPS bulbs, I do lose a noticeable amount of blue spectrum at 60%, but not that much at 75%. So basically, I avoid the 60% setting and just use 75% and 100%.

PJ Diaz said:

OK, I just ran some numbers for you. Prolly not exactly what you're looking for because I'm already running a mismatched lamp (250w) in my 400w dimmable ballast. Also, my 600 ballast isn't dimmable. I was gonna swap through a bunch of different bulbs and take photos and do an extensive test for you, but then I got lazy and remembered I have to trim a couple small plants tonight too, so anyway..

The tests were done using the following lamp/ballast combo -- the 400w is a dimmable revolt ballast with 50%, 75%, and 100% settings -- the 600w is a galaxy non-dim:

Reflector A:
400w ballast @ 75% setting w/250w HPS lamp (this is how I normally run my 32"x32" tent) = 6500 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 50% setting w/250w HPS lamp = 5100 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 100% setting w/250w HPS lamp (no, I'm not afraid to over-watt) = 8000 foot candles @ canopy level

Reflector B:
600w ballast w/600w HPS lamp = 9500 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 100% w/600w HPS lamp = 6200 foot candles @ canopy level
400w ballast @ 75% w/600w HPS lamp = 4400 foot candles @ canopy level

Hope this helps.

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So You're getting more foot candles at canopy level running a 250hps on the 400bally than you do off of the 600 watt bulb on reflector B? Thats wild. Kind of confuses me too... +rep for the test thats very interesting