what r the best Ballast out on the market ???

greekFIRE

New Member
So , I wood like to up grade my ballast. I have a 600watt ipower Digital dimmable HPS MH Ballast. been in use for about a year now.
What are some of the better brand name ballast on the market that have more power then the ipower ?

I heard of these names before
,Maxtra,
Hydrofarm

dont know anything about these name
VIVOSUN
Nanolux
Hydrobay
QUANTUM
TOP VIVOSUN
LUMATEK
INTELSUN
Oracle
Solis Tek
Digilume
Xtrasun
Phantom
Apollo
GLOBAL GREENHOUSE

just looking for a better ballast than the ipower.
Thanks for any info.
 

taGyo

Well-Known Member
I like magnetic Virtual Suns. 119 a pop for a 1k, easy to fix and I don't get all that messy RFI.

Also why would you upgrade your ballast? Are you upgrading your whole lighting system? 'Cause the ballast doesn't make a big difference.
 

greekFIRE

New Member
I like magnetic Virtual Suns. 119 a pop for a 1k, easy to fix and I don't get all that messy RFI.

Also why would you upgrade your ballast? Are you upgrading your whole lighting system? 'Cause the ballast doesn't make a big difference.
i have read that the ipower does not put out the same power/lumens as more better name ballast and bulbs. I got a nice hood and glass



thanks for the link
 

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
i have read that the ipower does not put out the same power/lumens as more better name ballast and bulbs. I got a nice hood and glass





thanks for the link
Do your research first..are you willing to spend a couple hundred dollars for what might be an incremental improvement in light? You might be better off investing in a high quality bulb instead. I've read a few grows that just switching to a good hortilux hps bulb increased yield substantially, some saying as much as 20%. If your going to spend the $$$ get a 1000W ballast and a bulb..keep your hood..if you can control the heat in your space.
 
So , I wood like to up grade my ballast. I have a 600watt ipower Digital dimmable HPS MH Ballast. been in use for about a year now.
What are some of the better brand name ballast on the market that have more power then the ipower ?

I heard of these names before
,Maxtra,
Hydrofarm

dont know anything about these name
VIVOSUN
Nanolux
Hydrobay
QUANTUM
TOP VIVOSUN
LUMATEK
INTELSUN
Oracle
Solis Tek
Digilume
Xtrasun
Phantom
Apollo
GLOBAL GREENHOUSE

just looking for a better ballast than the ipower.
Thanks for any info.
None, no ballasts exist in a quality superior to Ipower. Trust me, been there and lit that.
 

since1991

Well-Known Member
You all need to do your research. Almost alp the digital ballasts out there are made in China. And there about 6 electronics companies withn China that makes all of them. THERE ALL THE SAME BALLASTS. Even the ones made closer to home import most of the internal circuitry from these same Chinese manufacturers. Exception ....maybe Gavita. Your old school coil and core ballasts might be made in the u.s.a. Hydrofarm might still bit i doubt it. Sunlight Supply/Sun Systems makes most of thier reflectors in Washington i believe. But make no mistake.....most digital dimmable fan or non fan cooled ballsts for hobby horticultural use ar made by the same small handful of companies in China. And they all swap internal circuitry.
 

since1991

Well-Known Member
As a matter of fact most of the entire "hard goods" hobby hydroponic equipment is farmed out to China in some fashion. The big 5 distributors just import and.slap a "brand name" on it. Most of your cheaper inline fans, light ratchets, cheap mini splits, environmental controllers, etc. All made by a few Chinese manufacturers. Hydrofarm, Ngw, Sunleaves, etc. Just design it with a team in close contact with thier Chinese handlers and it gets produced. Brand wars and brand loyalty in this "industry" between customers/growers is pretty funny if you know what really goes on behind the scenes. And if you really want to know the truth....the whole "industry" (supplying equipment to dope growers is the dirty untold secret) was started in the Pacific Northwest by smart hippies in the late 1970's and early eighties in garages and small polebarns. Example....General Hydroponics, Applied Hydroponics (soon to be Hydrofarm but that was actually the name of their first system), Green Air Products, Light Manufacturing, Dynagro, Eco Enterprises. The list goes on and on. Even Superior Growers Supply here in good ole Michigan was an early pioneer. The only outfit in this state for a long time. Whoever had the balls to make the equipment or use the equipment made a SHIT LOAD OF MONEY.There was one big outfit that advertised inside the front cover of High Times. They got busted so bad by Operation Green Merchant in '89 that they now sell aquarium equipment. I know this because i bought my first 400 watt sodium from them before that. I had it sent ups to an abandoned house down the street when i was 15 years old. Lol. This is all pretty useless and doesnt mean much to most.of you but it does me. Because iam passionate about this and i was there. Very young but i was. As was Jorge Cervantes, Ed Rosenthal, Mel Frank, Clackamas Coot, Nevil Schoenmaker, Sam the Skunkman, Jack Herer, Captain Ed Adair....say what you want about these guys and some of the early books on dope growing but if it wasnt for them we would still be trying to grow dope with backyard "dirt" with incandescent light bulbs and boiling our roots.
 
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haulinbass

Well-Known Member
Been saying that for years since1991, even hortilux used to be just a distributer for iwasaki, now they are partners but you used to be able to order what hortilux calls their blue mh in a plain brown eye box for the same price as any standard mh.
 

since1991

Well-Known Member
Yup Hortilux was distributed by Iwasaki and they used to be very inexpensive compared to the small handful of "brands" available back then. They got huge in popularity and subsequently raised thier prices through he roof.
 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
You all need to do your research. Almost alp the digital ballasts out there are made in China. And there about 6 electronics companies withn China that makes all of them. THERE ALL THE SAME BALLASTS. Even the ones made closer to home import most of the internal circuitry from these same Chinese manufacturers. Exception ....maybe Gavita. Your old school coil and core ballasts might be made in the u.s.a. Hydrofarm might still bit i doubt it. Sunlight Supply/Sun Systems makes most of thier reflectors in Washington i believe. But make no mistake.....most digital dimmable fan or non fan cooled ballsts for hobby horticultural use ar made by the same small handful of companies in China. And they all swap internal circuitry.
Yes, sir!
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
As a matter of fact most of the entire "hard goods" hobby hydroponic equipment is farmed out to China in some fashion. The big 5 distributors just import and.slap a "brand name" on it. Most of your cheaper inline fans, light ratchets, cheap mini splits, environmental controllers, etc. All made by a few Chinese manufacturers. Hydrofarm, Ngw, Sunleaves, etc. Just design it with a team in close contact with thier Chinese handlers and it gets produced. Brand wars and brand loyalty in this "industry" between customers/growers is pretty funny if you know what really goes on behind the scenes. And if you really want to know the truth....the whole "industry" (supplying equipment to dope growers is the dirty untold secret) was started in the Pacific Northwest by smart hippies in the late 1970's and early eighties in garages and small polebarns. Example....General Hydroponics, Applied Hydroponics (soon to be Hydrofarm but that was actually the name of their first system), Green Air Products, Light Manufacturing, Dynagro, Eco Enterprises. The list goes on and on. Even Superior Growers Supply here in good ole Michigan was an early pioneer. The only outfit in this state for a long time. Whoever had the balls to make the equipment or use the equipment made a SHIT LOAD OF MONEY.There was one big outfit that advertised inside the front cover of High Times. They got busted so bad by Operation Green Merchant in '89 that they now sell aquarium equipment. I know this because i bought my first 400 watt sodium from them before that. I had it sent ups to an abandoned house down the street when i was 15 years old. Lol. This is all pretty useless and doesnt mean much to most.of you but it does me. Because iam passionate about this and i was there. Very young but i was. As was Jorge Cervantes, Ed Rosenthal, Mel Frank, Clackamas Coot, Nevil Schoenmaker, Sam the Skunkman, Jack Herer, Captain Ed Adair....say what you want about these guys and some of the early books on dope growing but if it wasnt for them we would still be trying to grow dope with backyard "dirt" with incandescent light bulbs and boiling our roots.

solis-tek are software based and comprised of mostly Japanese components. that's why i bought one. not sure about all the other brands.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
when i bought mine, yes it does have japanese components. next...

software based? yes. software based. as opposed to hardware based.
you don't have a f'in clue what you are talking about.
 
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