Enclosed ballast

Why are enclosed ballast/fixtures cheaper? For example, a 250 watt HPS setup with a ballast and fixture is about $180 lets say, then an all in one fixture/reflector with a ballast inside it, is like $120. Whats the reasoning behind this? To me it seems better to have an all in one system.

the all in one is more economical if you have the experience and knowledge to safely make the ballast remote or you need to be able to deal with the added heat of the ballast in your grow room.

smoke and coke said:

the all in one is more economical if you have the experience and knowledge to safely make the ballast remote or you need to be able to deal with the added heat of the ballast in your grow room.

Click to expand...

So the only drawback is the added heat in the grow room? Thats not really an issue because im buying an E-ballast, they put off almost no heat. So the majority of the heat will be coming from the actual lamp, not the ballast. The heat from the lamp is the same amount of heat as you would find in any grow room running a 250 watt HID light though.. so i didnt plan on, and dont need to make the ballast remote or modify the system at all. So basically its just all around more economical right? Then why dont more people buy these.. i feel like im missing something

Here is the system im looking at http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/sunburst-sbe250-hpsmh-grow-light-eballast-p-3709.html

bump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree I keep all my ballasts near the cooling, but enough away to not get any water from the a/c unit, because these boxes get super hot its always good to have them separate you could always put them far away from your plants to prevent it from getting too hot as these things increase the temps by a good 10 or more degrees

you will also be hanging a heavy ballast........... so make sure where you hang it from is well reinforced. This is why I much prefer the seperate ones so i can hang a nice light lamp and fitting pretty much anywhere there's room

Check the specs if you can.Some of those self contained fixtures do not have an energy saving capacitor installed to lower production costs.I am sure with some know how,one can make there own upgrade with the proper rated cap.

plantz said:

So the only drawback is the added heat in the grow room? Thats not really an issue because im buying an E-ballast, they put off almost no heat. So the majority of the heat will be coming from the actual lamp, not the ballast. The heat from the lamp is the same amount of heat as you would find in any grow room running a 250 watt HID light though.. so i didnt plan on, and dont need to make the ballast remote or modify the system at all. So basically its just all around more economical right? Then why dont more people buy these.. i feel like im missing something

Here is the system im looking at http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/sunburst-sbe250-hpsmh-grow-light-eballast-p-3709.html

Click to expand...

By E-ballast I assume you are referring do a digital ballast. Digital ballasts still put out a decent amount of heat. Compared to a magnetic ballast they put out almost nothing but compared to nothing they put out a decent amount of heat, especially when you go up to the 1000W ballasts. All-in-one ballast and lamp combos are great if you have a really good A/C OR are using low wattage like 250W or less OR when using as supplemental lighting in greenhouses. Most indoor grows that I know of all use separate ballast and lamp setups so they can keep the heat from the ballast out of the grow room. It all depends on your setup and situation, there are no clear and cut answers when it comes to this stuff.

with that e-ballast, there are cooling options available, so if you find you need to cool the light you can.

if you get that light, set it up and try it out in the grow room for a day and monitor the temps to get an idea if you need to cool the light or not.

another added bonus is you can veg. with a MH bulb and swap to hps for flower.

if you need to cool the light, the optional vent fittings will raise your cost up some.

Dalek Supreme said:

Check the specs if you can.Some of those self contained fixtures do not have an energy saving capacitor installed to lower production costs.I am sure with some know how,one can make there own upgrade with the proper rated cap.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately most sites dont list that type of info, and its hard to find it sometimes.. i personally couldnt find much for spec on this one.

gaztron3030 said:

you will also be hanging a heavy ballast........... so make sure where you hang it from is well reinforced. This is why I much prefer the seperate ones so i can hang a nice light lamp and fitting pretty much anywhere there's room

Click to expand...

Thanks for the good suggestion, although i think its only 19 lbs.

ryan1918 said:

I agree I keep all my ballasts near the cooling, but enough away to not get any water from the a/c unit, because these boxes get super hot its always good to have them separate you could always put them far away from your plants to prevent it from getting too hot as these things increase the temps by a good 10 or more degrees

Click to expand...

its an e-ballast or digital ballast they just get warm never hot.

smoke and coke said:

with that e-ballast, there are cooling options available, so if you find you need to cool the light you can.

if you get that light, set it up and try it out in the grow room for a day and monitor the temps to get an idea if you need to cool the light or not.

another added bonus is you can veg. with a MH bulb and swap to hps for flower.

if you need to cool the light, the optional vent fittings will raise your cost up some.

Click to expand...

Yeah i liked having the MH/HPS options as well. And the only heat issues im foreseeing is the lamp, i will have a nice venting system in place though so not very concerned with it. Thanks