Who Makes the Best Digital Ballast?

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gsmoke65

New Member
My420 said:
AGREE AGREE AGREE...... Had a nextgen Ballast and they have issues with the fans constantly going out so switched to a Lumatek dimable Ballast and never looked back... By far the best that I have used in the past 10 years.
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Best Ballast is these brand cause of longevity but most of of Total Harmonic Distortion ..The balance from ballast to bulb ,there is no distortion... meaning more power to bulb and longer life,not only that they make affordable kits...(As long as you buy from MBFERTS.COM) just professional only,also make Mh bulbs that go all the way purple which is 10k for last two weeks flowering for extra trichomes...have not seen this Color Spectrum bulb no where but this brand write here...Solis Tex... They make all types including switchable,remote,and digital timers are built in the ballast no nead for a timer,Also can run a Single cord that splits so you can screw two bulbs into a 1000 watt digital ballast and run efficiently two 600 watt bulbs wa la,...again for the pro who wants affordable quality at its best,yes better than phantom,lumatek,badass,check for yourself...thanks
 
N

NorthRiverNugz

Member
legallyflying said:
I am HIGHLY skeptical off any electronic unit that sucks dust directly into itself. All these super light weight ballasts with built in fans and sub par electronics. They are cheaper for a reason. Dust retains heat and there is plenty of dust and dirt in the air in grow environment.
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So you are HIGHLY skeptical of every single PC powersupply? Because every single power supply sucks air into itself. A little dust inside? No problem. A quick blast with a can of pressurized air.

I mean I'm a n00b to this "scene" but I'm a PC builder and I don't see how a digi ballast is any different than a pc power supply. I bought a digi ballast and it seems legit to me. Smaller, lighter and runs cooler. I went with the Nanolux 600w. I'll report back in the future. After a quick browse looks like not many people are running them.
 
BenFranklin

BenFranklin

Well-Known Member
I have a 250 digital greenhouse, that things a tank. I've dropped it, kicked it, banged it around... It's years old......

The hydrofarm phantoms are beautiful......


if your grow room is THAT dusty that you worry about a digital ballast you probably shouldn't smoke the shit you grow either.... Being that your plants are nearly as sticky as a fly trap, all that dust is on your plants....


i don't don't know what planet you're on, but, digital ballasts are NOT cheap. (Depending on make, that goes with buying anything, though, it's called common sense.)
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
BenFranklin said:
I have a 250 digital greenhouse, that things a tank. I've dropped it, kicked it, banged it around... It's years old......

The hydrofarm phantoms are beautiful......


if your grow room is THAT dusty that you worry about a digital ballast you probably shouldn't smoke the shit you grow either.... Being that your plants are nearly as sticky as a fly trap, all that dust is on your plants....


i don't don't know what planet you're on, but, digital ballasts are NOT cheap. (Depending on make, that goes with buying anything, though, it's called common sense.)
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Ummm. stop pretending like you know something.. its just better.

Digi ballasts are cheap. $200? niggha pah-leaze.

And what kind of retard has their ballasts IN their grow room? oh thats right..newbs like you.
 
superstoner1

superstoner1

Well-Known Member
I would never buy a ballast that has fan built in to cool it, its just not built right to begin with. That is just another failure point along with all of the pollen and plant detritus that floats around and gets sucked in. A good sealed unit, like the phantom, runs very cool and quiet without a fan.
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
gsmoke65 said:
Best Ballast is these brand cause of longevity but most of of Total Harmonic Distortion ..The balance from ballast to bulb ,there is no distortion... meaning more power to bulb and longer life,not only that they make affordable kits...(As long as you buy from MBFERTS.COM) just professional only,also make Mh bulbs that go all the way purple which is 10k for last two weeks flowering for extra trichomes...have not seen this Color Spectrum bulb no where but this brand write here...Solis Tex... They make all types including switchable,remote,and digital timers are built in the ballast no nead for a timer,Also can run a Single cord that splits so you can screw two bulbs into a 1000 watt digital ballast and run efficiently two 600 watt bulbs wa la,...again for the pro who wants affordable quality at its best,yes better than phantom,lumatek,badass,check for yourself...thanks
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That's Solis Tek . The ballast is a matrix and yes they are nice.
However the lamps are nothing but re-branded custom spec sunpulse lamps. Which are not good.
The splitter also done by Sunpulse long ago and adopted by Solis tek. I've heard of rfi/emi issues with the matrix but own two and don't see it.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
I like my solis teks. Out of 22 of them only one was bad and accidentally plugged it in with no bulb attached.sooo

I will say though, every once and awhile I am experiencing harmonic distortion on one or two of the ballasts. I have the time to switch out the lamp cords and see if that is an issue. Overall I'm impressed but not blown away or anything. The phantoms are ok but I think the wall mounting on the handle thing is gay. Plus they fucking blink to indicate the wattage which is annoying

Bottom line though..if your running magnetic ballasts, your a fool.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
hmmm, solis tek eh? May have to check em out.

all my digi's are lumateks and I really like em. I have some old mag ballasts i'm replacing though so i'm in the market.

you say they make a ballast that runs two 600w bulbs???

this i'm interested in.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
after checking them out...not for me. i'd like the option of putting 1ks in if I want too.

I looked at the solis teks. Looks like an awful lot of "lights and sirens" to me. I mean, remotes and lcd readouts? Seems like more shit to break. Maybe i'm just a little old school. Hell I never used any digi's until a year ago. The old mag. ballasts were just so dependable....I kept waiting on one to fail so I could replace it with a digital. But they never did LOL.

I do like the staggered start feature though. Definitely do not like the built in timer. Can you turn the timer off? i have a good intermatic mech timer I trust.

Is it true they run cooler than the lumateks?

what about the sound you said they make??

this is a big turn off for me.
 
NickNasty

NickNasty

Well-Known Member
You can't go wrong with Solis Tek or Lumateks just don't get the lumateks with the fan they are not as good. I have 2 little 6in desks fans blowing on 10 lumateks and they are as cool as can be.

Whenever I need one I always look for used ones because I never have had one go bad on me and you should be able to find a used one for 100-150$.
 
legallyflying

legallyflying

Well-Known Member
True that. I have only had one lumatek go bad..one half of a dual 600. It was like 5 years old though and I only paid $120 for it.

I have a couple galaxies as well..had them about a year..no problems yet.

I agree that the fans with ballasts not a good idea. I know some guy said "oh yeah" well your computer uses a fan on it's power supply. Yeah, I have replaced two of those in my life time and there is not 650 watts coursing though it either.
 
70's natureboy

70's natureboy

Well-Known Member
Lumatek is the only ballast I have found that doesn't mess up my radio reception. I still don't see the big advantage to digital ballasts. I have run several for over 5 years and once in a while have to use an old magnetic ballast for a back up, and I don't notice any difference in light output. My next one will either be another Lumatek or a magnetic ballast.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
after all this talk about ballast and efficiency. I bought a lux meter and I checked my old mag ballast against my lumatek. The lumatek was close to 30% brighter @ 16" ! i was shocked quite frankly.

The bulb on the mag ballast' is about three months older but still. I also just cleaned the glass on the reflectors so not much variation there.

getting ready to get a new lumatek ballast and new bulbs. Gonna check it then and see. Either way that old mag ballast is gonna become a backup very soon.



I am also gonna check the amp draw on the mag before I replace it. I wanna know for sure if the lumateks draw less as claimed.

I know they run soooo much cooler than the mags. That heat = inefficiency so i'm sure the digi's will pull less. how much is the question.
 
TheSnake

TheSnake

Well-Known Member
All i can say is Ipower gave me the shaft, Way to damn much radio interference! CRAZY amount from the 1000 watt, I have since went to an Apollo magnetic. Everything is peachy now, even if your in a legal state/country, radio interference will PISS EVERYONE OFF around you. Cable, tv, internet, hell cell phones etc everything that communicates with something else gets screwed if its bad enough.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
checked the amp draw of the lumatek vs. magnetic.

lumatek was .3amps less per leg when wired for 220.

so that's approximately 7% lower for the luma's :) NICE!

gonna check the heat output of the ballast' with my ir thermometer after bit.

I'm guessing there will be close to 100 deg f difference.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
sooo finnally got around to checking those heat sigs.

lumatek ran around 89f

uncased magnetic hps ran 213f !!!!

124 deg f difference!

I can't wait to get rid of this thing.....anyone want to buy a ballast? LOL

jkjk

i'll keep it for backup.
 
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