How Much Can A Ballast Affect Amount Of Light ?

[charlesweedmore]

hello ;
i have a cheap magnetic ballast. my yield is not good and i am trying to find what the problem was .
can a ballast affect amount of lumens ? if it can, how much ?

and my ballast is ver very hot while running. even i cant touch it.i dont know if it is normal because it is my first ballast.

 

[shaunmulok]

Hey charles, I dont know about the lumens but your ballast shouldn't be that hot i can easily hold my hand on my ballast its no hotter than my computer screen, I'd be checking that

 

[GMT]

I recently bought a new balast. I had a cheap humming ballast originally, that got pretty hot but not too hot. I had it on polystyrene (sp?) blocks to absorb some of the virbration. The new one I bought was much smaller and almost silent. I set it on the blocks and left it for a while, then I smelled burning. So I tried to pick it up and found I couldn't because it was so hot. I unplugged it and checked it out and the P. Block had a major hole in it where it had melted. The ballst has metal strip on the underside that it releases some of its heat. I set it on my old ballast and it runs perfectly well, it just puts out a hell of a lot of heat. So I wouldn't assume that a hot ballast is a bad ballast, just watch out where you put it.

 

[charlesweedmore]

thanks.
what about lumatek electronic ballast ? are they worth for money ?

 

[Philosophelon]

thanks.
what about lumatek electronic ballast ? are they worth for money ?

That depends on your budget. If you are on a tight budget, I'd spend the money to get a better reflector instead, as it will affect your yields significantly more than a better ballast. Unless you have temp issues, then perhaps get a new fan first. Regardless, the ballast you use is not one of the primary factors influencing yield.

Also, if you aim a fan/blower at your ballast, it will run cooler. Technically, ballasts do lose a little bit of efficiency when they get hot -- but not nearly enough that an overly hot ballast would be responsible for low yields.

 

[CMoon]

hello ;
i have a cheap magnetic ballast. my yield is not good and i am trying to find what the problem was .
can a ballast affect amount of lumens ? if it can, how much ?

and my ballast is ver very hot while running. even i cant touch it.i dont know if it is normal because it is my first ballast.

is the ballast new?

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I set it on my old ballast and it runs perfectly well, it just puts out a hell of a lot of heat. So I wouldn't assume that a hot ballast is a bad ballast, just watch out where you put it.

The difference between a good ballast and a bad ballast is efficiency. An efficient ballast will convert most of the incoming current to a pulse that the lamp can use. Most cheap ballasts are inefficient which means their conversion rate sucks. To maintain the proper pulse for the lamp, they have to compensate for it by sucking up extra watts. The hotter the ballast, the more watts are being wasted.

I've seen pictures of a meter on a 150w ballast and lamp that was sucking over 400 watts. Think about that the next time you want to save a few dollars. Your power bill is going to suck up any savings in the first few months. A whole lot more than that as the ballast gets older and even more inefficient.

The ballasts from the 150w cooper lighting security lights are not the cheapest but they're not exactly great. They run pretty hot. I have a 1000w ballast from SunSystem, it doesn't run very hot and is pretty dang quiet. Nice ballast.

 

[charlesweedmore]

thanks.my ballast is new.my final yield is not good as well as i expect and i think the light was one of the reasons.i use 5" cooltube, 600w dual spectrum hps and a magnetic ballast. plant d is my biggest plant although she popped 2 weeks later than others. i think 1 ) cooltube cannot spread the light 2 ) the ballast may be a crap

 

[charlesweedmore]

sorry pic was not clear.
all of them is under cooltube but plant d is closest plant to light.plant d is on the centre of tent and directly under the cooltube.other 6 plants are on the edges and corners of the tent.and i dont know if it is normal because there is a huge difference between plant d and others.

 

[shaunmulok]

What size is your room? have you calculated watts per square foot?
I run a 1000w with a footprint of 4.5'x4.5' Thats 49.38watts per square foot anything outside that 4.5m2 just doesn't get enough light to get a decent yield

 

[charlesweedmore]

i have a grow tent 4' X 4 ' and i use 600W dual spectrum hps. there are so many growers use 600W in 4' X 4' place

 

[shaunmulok]

thats ok then, as you say maybee the cooltube doesn't spread the light

 

[farroutfred]

ballasts are all different ,,, it is a good idea to get a quality unit
it hopefully will serve you well
but mostly,,, i' speaking of hazards ,,, they live long ,,, but not forever
FIRE can happen ,,, use non burning pad below and /or behind the ballast
air movement and adequate space between ballasts is important too
direct heat were it serves best for that season

newer units are quieter ,,, unless you got the cheapest one ,,

parts can be swapped ,,, HOT ? could be going bad

i've seen them wired for more light ,,, via voltage
wired at 208 and run on 240 ,,,
probably voids any warranty but a few lumens boost
maybe a shorter bulb life ,, but more is more

reflectors ,, they make a difference for sure
but ,,, they are not needed ,,,
it would depend on the layout of what is being illuminated
pick out the reflector so it fills the area evenly
at 12-24 inches above the canopy

 

[Haps]

Old bulbs are my number one low yield cause, anything over 6 months could have reduced yield, although not always. Two crops and out is my bulb rule, it pays for itself.
H

 

[narutonut]

If you are running a cool tube save it for playing with vertical lighting and get a general hydroponics daystar ac reflector it is air cooled and will double the light + to your plants sd it is a high quality reflector. I would also recomend that you upgrade to 1kw for a 4x4 with one light as 600w lights usually only effectively light 3x3. That's my 2 cents

 

[shaunmulok]

I run my 1k over a 4.5x4.5 area and it works well but outside that area yield is severely decreased i'd agree with narutonut