running different bulbs with digital ballasts

F

forestboy

Active Member
Hi, I was wondering whether I would be better off buying a 600 watt metal halide for my 250 watt digital ballast. I figured the 600s are supposed to be the most efficient and maybe I'd get more life out of it if I did it this way. It's just for my veg room. Cheers
 
That's right! It's a digital and I've done it many times before. It works, I'm just wondering if it is as efficient.
 
You might get better responses in the "Indoor Growing" section....this is the "LED and Other Lighting" subsection. All I know about MH is that they are too hot for my setup!
 
Well I suppose I could be wrong, but if a digital ballast can power any wattage bulb, then why does the ballast even list a wattage...?

I'll assume your speaking to the fact that the bulb actually turns on. Then No, It's not as efficient as using the proper bulb with the corresponding ballast.

giving a 600w bulb 250 watts does nothing, And while I don't have light measurements on hand to verify, I can only assume it's actually less efficient, and even less of a useful light sprectrum.

bulbs are designed to output a particular light sprectrum for a particular wattage. some bulbs may provide more lumens within a particular wattage, even so. they're still designed to run at the given wattage.
 
Your under-driving a bulb with that setup 600w mh will NOT fire on a 250w/400w ballast(they don't work underdriven at all), a 600w HPS bulb I doubt as well.... a 400w hps bulb will fire on a 250w ballast. BUT will drastically cut it's longevity and have a serious spectral shift.

yes a 600w hps bulb is the most efficient lm/w when used with a 600w ballast NOT on diff ballast though.

STICK with the appropriate ballast/bulb combinations for the best efficiencies and SAFETY......don't fuck around
 
No, you're wrong! I spoke to a lumatek rep about which bulbs are best for their ballasts and he said obviously lumatek but the ballast will run most bulbs osram etc. etc. I asked about the variability and he said that u can use any bulb in the ballast as long as you don't try putting 400 through a 250 watt for example. so for my variables I have 600s in each and turn down in the hot weather. My veg ballast is a 250 ballast though (not variable). I've used it many many times and it works well. I'm just curious regarding efficiency as it is a known fact that the 600 bulbs are the most energy/ heat efficient and I'm wondering if this same rule applies using them at a lower wattage. It's really difficult to make myself clear on this shit annoying and why does the enter button not allow me to make a new paragraph raaa lol.
 
It is the led section...but we are the biggest lighting nerds.

600w bulb in a 250w ballast will not work...and if for some reason it does fire...it won't have the same efficiency it would have in a 600w ballast.

And sounds lumatek only told you they would fire different brands...NOT different/wrong wattages. The only time you can run a different wattage bulb on a ballast is if the ballast can handle more than the bulb and then you dim the ballast....such as a 1000w ballast running a 600w bulb. 1000w dimmed using a 600w bulb are not as good as straight up 600 system. 600w bulbs are not the most efficient...600w systems(ballast and bulb) are.

Not sure why that is so unclear.

If we are wrong...show us with pics, and get a light meter to show yourself.
 
However, I'm telling you for a fact that I have been running a 600 watt metal halide from a 250watt digital ballast for most of a year so far with zero issues and plants are vegging nicely. I was just wondering about efficiency and it seems you are right, it wont be as efficient and probably will reduce bulb./ballast life. Lumatek guy was specific though cos I asked do I need to buy 400's and 600s and he said no. Just buy 600s and run them at 400 when you desire.
 
any recommedations on good cheap light meters because I intend to run x4 250-600 variable ballast in x 4 cooltubes and I certainly don't want to have to buy 12 different lights and manually replace bulbs throughout the year. Cheers and if anyone knows why on certain forums the enter button doesn't create a new paragraph I'd really appreciate it lol.
 
here's the email and I know he's not talking about 250s but it's what led me to even attempt sticking my 600 in my 250 watt ballast. To Me
14 Feb
Our ballasts our designed to run a 600W Lamp at 600W and 400W, so just buy a single Lamp.

We recommend Lumatek lamps, obviously, however, Osram, Slyvania, Powerplant, GIB Lighting are all good.

Regards

Lumatek Professional Lighting
Tel: 0044 1233 280 567
email: [email protected]
 
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