digital ballast

[renegades]

does anyone have any experience with digital ballasts? they claim to be noise free, very low heat , long lasting. they are said to excite the gasses in the bulbs faster for quicker start up making them much more efficient.does anyone have any input on these? I am going from 2-1000hps to 3-600hps should i stick with the tried and true coil and core style or step into the digital age? thanks for any advice--renegades

 

[Old Pirate]

If by digital you mean electronic then yes they are more efficient, and cooler. I havent seen many growers use them yet, but they are widely used by aquarium owners.

 

[wolfshadow]

http://overgrow.com/edge/showthread.php?p=6822747#post6822747

Might find this intresting :wink:

 

[renegades]

very informative, thanks for the heads up

 

[Nugs of Science]

I have 3 600 watt digital ballast and I will do a comparison to a 1000 watt lamp with coil ballasts. They are very light. The ones I have you can use a 400 or 600 MH or HPS. The versatility and better efficiency of the digital ballasts sold me.

NoS

 

[shadow123]

I think the digital ballast is a great idea but needs some work. I have a future brite 400/600 it only woked for 9 days. The old man at the shop told me I should have saved my money and they have been nothing but a problem for his shop.

 

[Nugs of Science]

Wow that sucks

Wow that sucks

Sorry to hear your bad luck with a digital ballasts. I asked about failure rates before I committed to buying any. They had used the ballasts in their shops for several months with no failures and they did notice the lamps driven by the DB were brighter.
Unfortunately, I am not currently using them but hopeful will be soon. Mine were made the All Brite (chinese produced). I wouldn't give up on the the technology yet. For some unknown reason there seems to be some invisible force preventing the dissemiation of digital ballast technology in the states. It seems much easier to acquire digital ballast outside the states. I had to import mine.
NOS

 

[Danknuggler]

check out www.westcoastgrowers.com for the best DEB's on the market. and the best reflectors by Bell Lighting technologies. I did a little research and these are supposed to be the best stuff you can get. Nuggler

 

[mrwags]

Here is a switchable 1000 watt digital ballast for a decent price.

http://www.gorillasupply.com/pages/2/index.htm

I've read a lot of good thing about these cannot wait until I got a reason to get a couple.


Mr.Wags

 

[Guest]

Awesome you found that site MrWags. (damn you got a fat cat!) should breed that thing for guard cats. That site is kinda wack. You have to check into paypal before ordering and it keeps erroring with Paypal and that site. Hope they get things straight otherwise i can call and make a order too. Thanks again Jubei