-
As of today ICMag has his own Discord server. In this Discord server you can chat, talk with eachother, listen to music, share stories and pictures...and much more. Join now and let's grow together! Join ICMag Discord here! More details in this thread here: here.
Ballasts - what should I look for when picking one?
- Thread starter noBraveNewWorld
- Start date
O
OG Tree Grower
.
T
TreehouseJ
Cato* Fong!
T
TreehouseJ
.
I would NOT recommend any electrical diy unless you have solid electrical skills and/or certification. No point putting your own life or .
Magnetic ballasts are super inexpensive, but generally aren't dimmable, nor should they be used to run both types of bulbs.I've been studying to get my electricians license for a year or so now, and doing some field work just for the hands on experience, but I am still terrified of electricity.. Thinking of changing my "major". I'm with both of you on this one. It's not hard to wire your grow up, and it's def worth doing a day or two of research so you know whats going on, but I would still suggest wiring all your shit up "dead" and then having someone with experience hook everything up to your main panel. At least turn your f'n panel off, panels kill people. I stopped working with my electrician friend and asking him for help because he is fuckin wreckless, and I don't want to have to try and resuscitate him or get zapped myself because he is too stupid and lazy to turn a panel off. Better to have to reset your clocks than to fucking die, people.
I'll add here that my good friends cousin (licensed electrician) DIED grabbing a live wire. You are supposed to touch any surface that could have a possible charge with the back of your hands first, otherwise.. the charge will cause your muscles to clench, and you won't be able to let go. R.I.P Charles.
Last edited:
O
OG Tree Grower
Treehouse j, I hear what your saying but we are all pot growers and risk takers, most anyone who grows is handy with construction and electricity and yes I probably take most of this stuff for granted since I grew up around it but if your not confident installing a toggle switch then don't. But common , if you work on a ballast that's plugged in I call that natural selection. You can't fix stupid
and they don't interfere with RF like the other ones lol. keeping off the radar from the cable company is a huge deal.
the dude whose cable company guy knew.. could of easily sent a team of people to rob him ... in a lot of areas.. the cable company wouldn't give a shit.. but the guys that knew would take that shit.
'
either spend big money on known brand name digi's or.. just run magnetic.
these days.. for 120-140. u can get a 1000w switchable sun system hardcore ballast.. even cheaper online sometimes..
no need to wire shit. just use switch and good to go.
T
TreehouseJ
I'm a smart cookie (compared to most millennials), but honestly, I feel like natural selection should have taken my ass already with all the overly-confident stunts I've gotten away with. Licensed electricians die too. Sadly enough, I think a lot of people who go this way are smarter people than not, who simply got too comfortable and careless.
Sometimes my brain is going 1k mph, especially if I have multiple jobs to finish before the days end. I can't count the times I've zapped myself reaching up into fixtures for random bullshit. If I had been working with stuff that was drawing any real power, who knows.
You always have to take human error into account, and find a way to make it redundant with electricity. There is simply no room for any sense of familiarity when you are running even small amounts of power. When I get familiar, I get careless. Not to mention, with all the dab and edibles I go through for my back pain, it would take me a week to dry out and sober up enough to get my cognition back on track.
I'm more worried about frying somebody else up in their bed than I am about electrocuting myself. I'd rather be wiring up bombs in a shack by myself than wiring up other peoples houses or apartments.
Sometimes my brain is going 1k mph, especially if I have multiple jobs to finish before the days end. I can't count the times I've zapped myself reaching up into fixtures for random bullshit. If I had been working with stuff that was drawing any real power, who knows.
You always have to take human error into account, and find a way to make it redundant with electricity. There is simply no room for any sense of familiarity when you are running even small amounts of power. When I get familiar, I get careless. Not to mention, with all the dab and edibles I go through for my back pain, it would take me a week to dry out and sober up enough to get my cognition back on track.
I'm more worried about frying somebody else up in their bed than I am about electrocuting myself. I'd rather be wiring up bombs in a shack by myself than wiring up other peoples houses or apartments.
T
TreehouseJ
double post
Last edited:
Here's the deal....
I have some sympathy with the argument "If someone's stupidity kills themselves..then...oh well that is Culling the herd."
However, often it is the case that someone's stupidity kills other people... I DO have a problem with that!!
With water/plumbing, soils, and other stuff related to growing ..go ahead and diy....worst case scenario is you end up waist deep in water or shit....no biggie...
As, I said in my earlier post if you have SOLID skills with electronics/electricity....then go ahead. It sounded like they were not too knowledgeable in that department....So I would not advise them to fuck around with electrics...I don't won't their life (or those of others) on my conscience.
Part of my earlier career involved dealing with reports of stupidity being the cause of deaths....No exaggeration....but I have thousands of stories of absolute fucking morons dying or killing others due to nothing else but sheer stupidly, so please forgive my caution when giving advice...I have seen the end results of bad advice.
I have some sympathy with the argument "If someone's stupidity kills themselves..then...oh well that is Culling the herd."
However, often it is the case that someone's stupidity kills other people... I DO have a problem with that!!
With water/plumbing, soils, and other stuff related to growing ..go ahead and diy....worst case scenario is you end up waist deep in water or shit....no biggie...
As, I said in my earlier post if you have SOLID skills with electronics/electricity....then go ahead. It sounded like they were not too knowledgeable in that department....So I would not advise them to fuck around with electrics...I don't won't their life (or those of others) on my conscience.
Part of my earlier career involved dealing with reports of stupidity being the cause of deaths....No exaggeration....but I have thousands of stories of absolute fucking morons dying or killing others due to nothing else but sheer stupidly, so please forgive my caution when giving advice...I have seen the end results of bad advice.
O
OG Tree Grower
No one gave bad advise and if some fucking tard kills him self trying to wire a ballast that's plugged in then it's no sweat off my back. everyone and there feelings these days, fuck take all the warning labels off everything and let it all sort it self out.
I probably won't be to popular for this post but I don't care, it's my last post here on the mag as I'm going to get back into things full swing to say the least. Lots of good people on here willing to help so I'm not as compelled to help as I have been in the past. Have fun and stay safe guys . Overgrow the government!
I probably won't be to popular for this post but I don't care, it's my last post here on the mag as I'm going to get back into things full swing to say the least. Lots of good people on here willing to help so I'm not as compelled to help as I have been in the past. Have fun and stay safe guys . Overgrow the government!
