Choosing new HID setup

Hey rollitupers,
I'm moving away from my LED grows back to traditional HID lighting. I have concerns with RF interference.....that being said, what is the absolute best 600w ballast (digital(if RF isn't out of control) or magnetic.) money isn't a concern. Trying to find the best of the best. Will buy 2. Let me know what y'all think.
Shart

Bump

LUMATEK DIGITAL BALLAST IS AMAZING

What about Lumatek and it's radio interference?

All digital ballast are goin to produce rfi. It's very easy to controll.

I like the solis tek matrix ballasts. You can choose to run 400,600 or 1000 watts. Has a built in timer. And clocks your usage time.

What are your concerns about rfi? It's only a problem if you have close neighbors. I just ditched my solis tek and got a SG Magnetic. It's nice to be able to listen to tunes on the radio again.

I would look into the double ended units or perhaps consider the new cmh.
From all the reports ive read the seem to be worth the extra money.

Hydrofarm phantoms, best digital ballast you can buy. I personally switched everything over to double ended, its the way to go. If you want double ended go with hydrofarm phantom de ballast, gavita remote ballast, or nanolux de ballast.

Has anyone seen the Apollo double ended hoods (~$100) the 'double ended' ballasts ($180) and the double ended bulbs ($40) on ebay/amazon? I've run their regular digital ballasts/bulbs with great results. Seems like a solid discount compared to other double ended products and they are decent quality for the price imo. Looks like external ballasts and cooled hoods are making their way into the 'double ended' market. Game changer, or more smoke and mirrors?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xapollo double ended.TRS0&_nkw=apollo double ended&_sacat=0

What is cmh?

you can always tape a ferrite rod to the power lead to stop rfi

The solution for your problem might be what is called a ferrite coil, also known as a ferrite bead, a ferrite choke, or an RFI choke. All of these names mean the same thing. Ferrite beads prevent interference in two directions: from a device or to a device. A conductive cable such as the input power for the HID or LED bulbs acts as an antenna – if the device produces radio frequency energy, this can be transmitted through the cable, which acts as an unintentional radiator. In this case the bead may be required to reduce RFI. Conversely, if there are other sources of RFI, the bead prevents the cable from acting as an antenna and receiving interference from these other devices.

image of a ferrite rod

Wow, thanks for all the information everyone. I'm leaning towards the 2015 nanolux ballast that can run 2 600w at the SAME time.

blackforest said:

Has anyone seen the Apollo double ended hoods (~$100) the 'double ended' ballasts ($180) and the double ended bulbs ($40) on ebay/amazon? I've run their regular digital ballasts/bulbs with great results. Seems like a solid discount compared to other double ended products and they are decent quality for the price imo. Looks like external ballasts and cooled hoods are making their way into the 'double ended' market. Game changer, or more smoke and mirrors?
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xapollo double ended.TRS0&_nkw=apollo double ended&_sacat=0

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You are not suppose to directly air cool double ended bulbs, lowering the temperature of the bulb make them work less efficiently and makes your ballast over work its self. Thats why imo the ac/de is the only viable option in air cooling DE. They have a separate chamber above the bulb that the air is moved through. They are the only hood with this technology. Im currently using them with great results

Botanical Shart said:

Hey rollitupers,
I'm moving away from my LED grows back to traditional HID lighting. I have concerns with RF interference.....that being said, what is the absolute best 600w ballast (digital(if RF isn't out of control) or magnetic.) money isn't a concern. Trying to find the best of the best. Will buy 2. Let me know what y'all think.
Shart

Click to expand...

If rf interference is a big concern for you than magnetic ballast is a great option. Reliability and longevity it's unbeatable.......consumer serviceable unlike most digis.

Osram plantamax hps mogul bulbs have one of the highest umol/j (400-700nm) in the industry(credit alesh)

If you wanna play with the heat monsters, Gavita 750w de.....maintains the same efficiency @ 600w when dimmed/supposedly a mogul 1k swap; which is impressive if you believe the#s ......rf should be negligible with their good shielding/direct ballast.

Good luck

I'm looking for a new 600 w magnetic ballast and air cooled hood like I'm using currently trying to do two lights soon in a 4' x 8' space rather than 4'x 4' like I have at the moment

the search continues ! Need at air-cooled hood and magnetic ballast at affordable not new hydro store pricing lol

Gavita.

Botanical Shart said:

What is cmh?

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Ceramic Metal Halide...supposedly has the perfect grow spectrum

What's this RFI stuff and what's the concerns ? I have the Apollo 400 digital ballast .