LED's with ballast instead of driver

[early4surely]

Can someone explain what is the difference between LED's powered by driver and LED's powered by an electronic ballast?

Nowadays, LED's powered by ballast are offered at a much lower price compared to LED's powered by driver. What justifies the much higher price for drivers?

I understand that drivers have a better capacity to regulate the power supplied to the LED's, and as a result the driver and the lights will last longer. I would like to understand how durable the ballast will be, and how it may impact the durability of my lights. I tried asking chat gpt, and it indicated an approximate 10-20% loss in LED lifespan. Given the progress in LED lights over the years, II am willing to sacrifice up to 20% durability, as I assume I will anyway want to upgrade before my lights get too old.

Hope someone can chime in and shed some light on this savings opportunity.
Keep it Terry

 

[Creeperpark]

A ballast controls the current flow to the lamp, ensuring safe and consistent operation. Ballasts regulate the voltage and current to stabilize the light output of the lamp. Ballasts provide an initial burst of voltage to start the lamp and get it going. There are different types of ballasts for different types of lamps.

The primary function of an LED driver is to regulate the power supply to LEDS, ensuring they receive the correct voltage and current to function optimally.

Convert input power
LED drivers convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). Most places supply higher voltage AC, while LEDs are designed to run on lower voltage DC. google

 

[mm4n]

Can someone explain what is the difference between LED's powered by driver and LED's powered by an electronic ballast?
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Given the progress in LED lights over the years, II am willing to sacrifice up to 20% durability, as I assume I will anyway want to upgrade before my lights get too old.

I'm currently testing -with a friend- a €200 model (Vanguard) compared to my €500 model (Mars Hydro) and his €800 model (Lumatek).
A negative feature is that they cannot be turned off by the ballast (minimum 250W), but it can be solved with a good old timer. IMHO the only difference seems to be a slightly higher production under the more expensive model.

That being said, I'm now thinking of buying three €160 model...

 

[early4surely]

I'm currently testing -with a friend- a €200 model (Vanguard) compared to my €500 model (Mars Hydro) and his €800 model (Lumatek).
A negative feature is that they cannot be turned off by the ballast (minimum 250W), but it can be solved with a good old timer. IMHO the only difference seems to be a slightly higher production under the more expensive model.

That being said, I'm now thinking of buying three €160 model...

Thanks bro this is very valuable input for me. You say the the LED powered by ballast yields less. Does all of your lights have the same output in terms of Watts, umol/J, PPFD? As far as I understand, yield is determined by the PPFD distribution across the canopy. So whichever light has the best PPFD distribution should yield best.

I am looking at a 720W LED powered by ballast with 3.14 umol/j efficiency, cost about 500 USD, with good PPFD distribution. My main concern at this stage is that I fear ballast will be less durable than driver. According to my friend who is an electrician, ballast is not recommended. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Hiddenjems]

Can someone explain what is the difference between LED's powered by driver and LED's powered by an electronic ballast?

Nowadays, LED's powered by ballast are offered at a much lower price compared to LED's powered by driver. What justifies the much higher price for drivers?

I understand that drivers have a better capacity to regulate the power supplied to the LED's, and as a result the driver and the lights will last longer. I would like to understand how durable the ballast will be, and how it may impact the durability of my lights. I tried asking chat gpt, and it indicated an approximate 10-20% loss in LED lifespan. Given the progress in LED lights over the years, II am willing to sacrifice up to 20% durability, as I assume I will anyway want to upgrade before my lights get too old.

Hope someone can chime in and shed some light on this savings opportunity.
Keep it Terry

The electrical output of a ballast for hid lights is totally different than the output of an led power supply.

 

[spacetraveller]

LEDs are controlled by a DC transformer. Our fancy LEDs used for growing simply have a rheostat added for dimming.
Never heard of a ballast driven led, sounds wrong.

 

[mm4n]

Never heard of a ballast driven led, sounds wrong.

Try "LED 720w + ballast" on Google.

The cheap LED makers have cut production costs by reusing HID lamp ballasts. The main trade-off is that these ballasts come with a fixed-step power dial, just like the old CMH and HPS lamps (which can also run on these ballasts with the classic IEC C13/C14 plug).

You say the the LED powered by ballast yields less. Does all of your lights have the same output in terms of Watts, umol/J, PPFD?
(...)
According to my friend who is an electrician, ballast is not recommended. Any thoughts on this?

The thing is, to keep LED panel prices under €0.5/W, compromises need to be made with the component: the ballast come from old HID lamps, the chips are old Samsung models, and the energy efficiency is lower than that offered by more reputable brands.

Maybe the electrician is right... but I'm broke and, honestly, the weed looks the same with both LEDs.

 

[foomar]

The cheaper ones around £200 tend to use osram and other smaller makers , nothing wrong with that but they usually have a lower umol around 2.30,
Better ones are over 3.00 useing older samsungs priced nearer £300 and offer good value on paper.

Do they run the led,s at a high voltage around 200+ ?

 

[Koondense]

Ballast - nigh voltage pulse driver for HID gas lamps
Driver - DC current with constant voltage to drive the LEDs

Different needs for different light emitting tech.

Cheers

 

[foomar]

Despite sounding wrong they really do use the 200volt HPS power and somehow handle the 4000 -6000 volt igniter pulse.
Would like to see a wireing diagram and the voltage across the led,s.

As a 600w driver like a meanwell HLG-600H costs £200 by itself and a 600w digital switchable HPS ballast costs £55 , it seems a good idea esp if you have stocks of or tooling to manufacture them

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