Best 1000w Digital Ballast ??

[THCV]

whatever, you clown. i won't expect any responses.

but for vafoor, it's worth knowing that 99.99% of the 1000w grows you see on IC are magnetic ballasts. So it's easy to recommend them. On the other hand, a few brave souls have bought 1000 digis, and neptune specifically showed us his. But a concensus that doesn't make. We all agree mag ballasts are worth the money, not so much digis. I am talking 1000s only, as the 600s seem totally worth it.

clowntown is a digi "booster", is clearly into the idea (see his thread) so he is enthusiastic about the technology, and eager to interpret any positive sign as a reason to spend 2x on a ballast (although he isn't personally buying one). you however will need to make your own decision, based on whatever real experiences with 1000w digis you can read about. And there are very few that are compelling. I explained my position in post #3 of this thread, but I will buy 1000 digis too once there is a clear trend of reliability. And there isn't yet.

 

[ogatec]

new technology will always have problems to be ironed out, i think digis are the future.

lumatek is the only way to go right now. i was having problems with my luamteks, & the hydrostore guy admitted to me that other brands were beeing consistanly returned but the lumateks had a very minimal return rate. (turns out he was right,& I had a loose grounding screw).

my ballasts cause some interference with AM signals, no problems for my calble modem, wirless network, or any other interference problems.

@ this time i am back to magnetic ballasts, but as soon as i move i wil be back to digital.

 

[Barn Growin']

I had a 1000w Galaxy I beleive was the name of it digi ballast and it went out on me after 2 months. I think digital ballast are 4-5 years away from being steady still. I hear nothing but problems coming from them still.

27 more posts till I can read my PM's that have been flashing for 4 months!!

 

[ogatec]

magnetic ballasts will always have their place in enviroments where you wouldnt want to put a digital. digis will always bee more fragile, beeing computer based... i definitley wouldnt put my laptop in the attic next to my ol' workhorses..hehe

but the quality of ligtht that the digis put out is difinitley superior. if i can see it with my own eyes, i know my plants like it better.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Friends are very happy with the new Lumateks, but I have heard no reports on the 1000s yet. Guys with several lights bought one to try out and are now upgrading all the ballasts they own.


I am tempted by the new 750, use it with the special 750 bulb and "allegedly" the results are similar to the magnetic 1000s.

 

[ogatec]

i was running the 1000w lumateks...1 purple 1 & 2 blue ones

 

[ogatec]

i also have an older silver 400w that causes more interference than the others combined, so i know they are making strides with this technology...

 

[Blest_1]

Well I own 2 purple 1000w 240v Lumateks. As of this post no problems with RF, going on 3 months now.

 

[ogatec]

after re-reading this thread i thought it was important to clarify how minor the AM interfeance was. with my antenea by the window in the other room, i only noticed a sligth crackle with the ballast on. im sure if you put the radio righ on top of he ballast it would cause more problems but the interferance was def. minimal.

it seems like everyhting electrical causes AM interfenance anyway, so the idea of cops going around with am radios to bust people is laughable...

 

[MadCow]

I have 6 blue 750's i have never had any problem with them they're great, so are magentics IMO. I dont like the sylvania bulbs!! They have problems so i just run 1000 watt eye's in them instead. No problems.

 

[soomka]

I use digital greenhouse ballast.. I have yet to get a Mh to properly work with th e ballast.
first bulb started to cycle.. would warm up then shut off after 5 mins.. It worked fine on my mag ballast b4 i switched.

The 2nd did the same thing but after the light bulb turned itself off(the ballast is still running btw) it turns back on 10 secs later but is creating a crazy light and something inside the bulb actually caught on fire..
(if i can post pics later i will) It wasn't too bad.. I caught it rite when it happened the bulb was just a little black and inside this lil circular piece that had melted some.

HPS works fine.. and HTGsupply has been very kind with working w/ me to help solve this problem.. I got my 3rd replacement MH today.. It's a different brand this time. But guess what? It doesn't light up one bit.. I was thinking faulty bulbs but now i do not know.

 

[Texas Kid]

Ya'll should look at the Global Greenhouse 1000 "Prometheus" 240v only or the 1000w "Hercules" with Intellivolt curcuit for 120v or 240v for a good alternative to Lumatek. I run thier 400, 600, and 1000's with no problems at all. Plus they have a 3 year no questions asked return policy.

This is by no means new technology....believe it or not these are almost exactly the same as 30 year old car amplifier or simple frequency inverter technology. Some of the newer ones that are about to come out actually come off the same production line as some popular car amplifiers. No real magic, you are taking a 120v circiut at about 5 amps and rampin that bitch up to output 600 or 1000 watts respectively.

Not alot of difference in the 1000w light ballast and a 1000w Apline V12 amp running as a single bridge setup.

I am about to start running (2) new 1000w Prometheus setups over a few 3x3 tables for the summer so I will let ya know how it turns out.

Tex

 

[THCV]

i bought a 1000w lumatek a month ago. it has been working well. i have it running one of 4 supersun 2 hoods with horti hps. it turns on full brightness much faster for sure. and there is no question that it is brighter. i position my hoods with a light meter, and 3 of the hoods--all magnetic--are at basically the same height. For the same brightness directly below the hood, the digital ballast powered hood is 4 inches higher than the rest.

So i have established for myself that it is certainly pushing more lumens. As for durability, we'll see. It's up in the attic with the mag ballasts and summer heatwaves are on the way, so I'll let y'all know if it fails. So far, so good, but can't say it's definitely worth the extra $200--literally more than 2x the price of a good mag. ($350 vs $150).

 

[westinghouse]

I have a hydrotek ballast I bought about a year ago online. it is in a silver steel case with vents on three of the four sides. it is for 600w/120v
model: 115/20H

can anyone tell me if this is a magnetic or digital ballast? i've searched all over the net, and even the sites that sell them with hoods as a package, none of them say. i know i should have researched this long ago, but the time has finally come to put them to use.

also, is this a decent ballast? i have absolutely no experience so i'd love to know any pros/cons. this will be alright in an attic with 120+ degrees, right?
thank you for any insight, i really do appreciate it.

 

[kb5178]

I had no prob with my lumatek when I only had one but when I switched my other 2 ballast my ph tester started to go nutz..I just dont test when lights are on so no prob really

 

[billbob]

the digitals are great, but not for everyone. one of the best things is NO NOISE. Regular 1000's are loud as hell and many people can't have that. The digitals go through a few more bulbs

 

[dongle69]

My standard ballasts don't make any noise.

 

[clowntown]

What model / brand 1kw magnetic ballast do you have? I've been searching for some good, reliable, efficient and most importantly, QUIET magnetic 1kw's because a digital 1kw (at the moment) is out of the question due to EMI issues.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

id wait a few more months.
i saw an optima ballast (anodized orange, dimmable, and has active fan) its made by advance ballast.
it was a test model for the store, it dimms to 75% and 50% power. just by touching a knob. good for the power conciouse.
it was running so cool it was almost 'cold' to the touch after 1 hour.

it also says it was mh/hps switchable... not mh-> conversion like we have to put in our 600's.. natural Mh. the cheap mh bulbs work. it autosences what type of bulb.

its also 110v-268 v AUTO sensing just swap a plug. just like the galaxies.
if i knew id have gotten to see that id have brought my camra, this thing was amazingly small. about the size of a 400 or 600 w galaxie cut in 1/2 less then 10 or 15 lbs in weight. and could hang on a wall sideways.
awsome unit.

 

[clowntown]

Sounds almost too good to be true. Any RFI/EMI issues on that thing? How about reliability... what type of warranty is being offered? Personally I'm not a big fan of the dimmable HID thing, in fact I'm almost against it, but that's another topic for another time...