turbo boost on digi ballast, is it safe
- Thread starter go go kid
- Start date
FastFreddi
Well-Known Member
I should suspect premature bulb failure but not really sure....someone with more experience using "turbo" mode?
FF
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Richard Drysift
Well-Known Member
I have switched over to Timber COB leds but I used to run a thunder 600w HPS for many years. The ballast had a setting beyond 100% called “super lumen” which was supposed to be 115% power. It is sort of like having an amp that goes to 11...very “spinal tap” but to some it might be overkill. You will not notice much of a visual difference between 100% and super setting but there are bulbs made to run at this slightly higher wattage, namely the Eye Hortiluxe Super HPS.
I’ve tried several brands of HPS and MH bulbs but the eye hortiluxe super HPS was the only one that would last on “super“ setting without burning out. The extra wattage does help push slightly larger flowers but it is at the expense of the bulb working harder and fading faster. I went through three lumatek 600w HPS in one year even after dropping the setting back to 100%. Tried using metal halide bulbs too which fared even worse; had one burn out in a month. So if you use the right kind of bulbs the super setting is pretty good but it will burn out bulbs faster and throw slightly more heat.
I’ve tried several brands of HPS and MH bulbs but the eye hortiluxe super HPS was the only one that would last on “super“ setting without burning out. The extra wattage does help push slightly larger flowers but it is at the expense of the bulb working harder and fading faster. I went through three lumatek 600w HPS in one year even after dropping the setting back to 100%. Tried using metal halide bulbs too which fared even worse; had one burn out in a month. So if you use the right kind of bulbs the super setting is pretty good but it will burn out bulbs faster and throw slightly more heat.
go go kid
Well-Known Member
Many thanx for your answer and also the great info too. Ill just put a 400W in there and make it up to 1000watts rather then going through bulbs thanx
Renfro
Well-Known Member
I have ran bulbs on overdrive and it works great but it does shorten the lamp life, output diminishes quicker but nothing blows up. I have also heard talk of higher wattage changing the spectrum but I am not sure about that. I think the color is more dependent on the contents of the arc tube and I have never had the plants say anything negative about it lol.
I think that dimming the lamps would be more likely to alter the spectrum but again no proof and I haven't seen any good experiments on the issue. Would be interesting if someone with a good photometer plotted the spectrum produced by a given lamp at the various wattage settings. If anyone knows of such an experiment documented on the web please point me in that direction.
I think that dimming the lamps would be more likely to alter the spectrum but again no proof and I haven't seen any good experiments on the issue. Would be interesting if someone with a good photometer plotted the spectrum produced by a given lamp at the various wattage settings. If anyone knows of such an experiment documented on the web please point me in that direction.
