Down size from 2K to 1200w??

[BlueBear]

OK, currently I have 2 Hortilux 1000W's in my flower room and am thinking about down sizing to 2 600W's before the spring arrives in order to cool my room easier. Right now I am pushing the breaker box and if I decided to add AC I would be tripping it everyday and I can't up grade the box do to security risk and can't do it my self do to a disability.
If I down size to the 2 600's I may not even have to run AC and if I do, I will have some extra breathing room to do so with an extra 800W's from the 2 1K's being only 1200W's, but like most people I don't want to loos out on my yields significantly. So I want to know if those who have down sized from 1K's to 600's are satisfied with the results.
Thanks for any input.
Adieu

 

[billbob]

well if it is 600s or overheat take the 600s. You can cool the hoods if not already. The 600s are great, but not the same as 1000s. Esp if your plants are tall. If they are smaller then the 600s might be good all around

 

[BubbaBear]

l just got 2 600w lumatek digi ballast and cool tubes and couldnt be happier. the new 600w lumatek ballasts give off only 5% less light than a magnetic 1000w ballast and with my cool tubes l can get even closer to the plants so absolutly no loss of light here according to my light meter...l got a amazing deal on both at mdhydro.com

 

[billbob]

those digital ballasts are the way to go in most cases (quite, light, low heat), but I don't know about it giving off only 5% less light than a magnetic 1000w. I would have to say that is marketing BS. A 600 will not penetrate like a 1000, digital/analog/whatever. Anyone have the facts?

 

[icdog]

My 600w lumatek is not 5% less then a 1000w under a light meter, the 1000 puts out way more light. The 600w lumatek puts out much more light then a 600w magnetic though. I measured it with the digital meter, at a certain distance the 600w lumatek was 120, the 600w magnetic was 80 - 90. This is not an exact of the lumens, it was just at a certain same distance from the light. Same bulb.
Expect to lose a bit in yield but you might gain with less heat and Watts usage.
My average g/w with the 1000 was .6, with the 600 its .9 - 1.0

 

[pico]

1000w x .6 = 600 grams
600w x 1 = 600 grams

Sounds like a good deal. Do you use a 3x3 area or 4x4 area for your 600w lights?

 

[pico]

ohh yeah, and can you give us the 1000 watt reading for comparison? I have been thinking about getting a light meter to test stuff out.

 

[BlueBear]

Perhaps I will only upgrade one light and do a side by side with my digi 1K and a Lum 600 digi.
I remember a grow on here where a guy pulled 40 zips off of two 600's with 3 plants in soil with only 1 month veg, one strain was POG and the other was a MoonShine I think, using the House and Garden nutes.
Adieu

 

[icdog]

Bluebear, you have a digi 1000w? What is it and how is it?

pico - 4 x 4 with both the 1000 and the 600.
I can't remember the exact reading between them, I think the 1000 was 280 plus but since it was a different light it was difficult to get it in the exact same position.

 

[Guest]

I would keep my 1K's and run my fixtures on 240V,this will cut your apmerage in half resulting in a lot more load on 1 circuit

 

[BlueBear]

I will check later what brand my Digi ballast is, the other is a magnetic and both have Hortilux bulbs. I have vision problems so I will not be doing any converting over to 240V, if I could I would probably just run the 750's.
Have any of you tried the swamp coolers for your rooms?? It seems like they run on less than half of AC wattage. Temps in the summer only get up to about 85D at most, but most of the time, high 70's.
Adieu

 

[clowntown]

My apologies for the interruption, but I would appreciate if you digital ballast owners would take a quick moment and share some information about your ballasts in my RF EMI thread (see signature below). I'm attemping to collect more information on which ones are "safe" and which aren't.

And if you currently don't own a digital ballast but are shopping for one, please also take a look (for the same stated purpose, above.)

 

[Pinner]

My average g/w with the 1000 was .6, with the 600 its .9 - 1.0

If I may ask why are your yeilds so much better per Watt with the 600 than a 1000?

What am I missing here?

 

[BlueBear]

Actually in grams the 600W seem to be producing the same amount of overall yield as the 1K, but the 600W are on par with the 1K generally because what you lose in lums with the 600W you can make up with closer proximity and less heat problems making for a more efficient environment for the plant.
Adieu

 

[James Morrison]

Im very ignorant about watts and volts and such

Im looking into a Lumatek Digital Electronic Ballast 600w 240v HPS/ or the Lumatek Digital Electronic Ballast 600w 120v HPS

My question is, what the differences between 240v and 120v???

 

[BlueBear]

240V need to be wired to a box or plugged into a special 240V outlet while 120V can be plugged into a normal household pluggin.
Adieu

 

[Guest]

The difference between running fixtrures on 240V as opposed to 120V is that it cuts your amperage in half enabling you to use smaller wire or get more things on an already existing circuit.If its a dedicated circuit(from the panel to the outlet without any other outlets) and you have an extra space in the panel for a 2 pole breaker,its very simple to do.

 

[BlueBear]

I think that my digi 1K is a GrowBright, which haven't had the best reviews on here, but I bought mine before I really read anything about them because my local carried them, but none the less I have had no problems over the last 8 months and I have had it in 2 rooms, one room with both dial up and high speed and the room that it is in now has a radio that plays 24-7 without any problems and we have a cordless and 2 cell phones, so no RF problems, but it also uses the hydro farm courds.
Adieu

 

[clowntown]

Sorry for the off-topic, but since you posted your results here... What type of radio? So far I haven't heard of any ballasts, even "bad" ones, having problems with the FM band but instead having problems on the AM band. What type of broadband Internet connection? Cable or DSL or other? How far away are all of these devices from the ballast? Which cell phone carrier? What frequency on the cordless phone? Have you noticed anything else like pH and TDS meters reading differently? Is the lamp cord shielded?

I've noted from others' experience that sometimes the interference may be very subtle and not necessarily a noticable show-stopper.

 

[BlueBear]

Well, well, let me try to answer a few questions, when in the room with the computer it was about 7 FT away, cellphones are an Alaska provider, cordless, have been about 2FT away using, radio is always on FM, so I will check, or maybe not, it is all tangled up behind my plants and a shelf sitting under my other 1K. I use the TDS/PH in kitchen when mixing nutes. I may take the cell phone down and try to place a call with the phone right next to it because it did seem like I had more dropped calls when it was in my office, but it was also summer and we get hot spots or something that give us problems here and there.
Hope this helps some.
Adieu