This is my personal experience with solis tek. Bought 8 of the first version 1 was a dud and they replaced it. Now 4 years after 2 of the 8 have shitted out but Im in FL and we get crazy lightning so I cant blame solis cause Ive lost plenty of electronics to lightning. The problem is the newer version 2.0 that I replaced the 2 fried ones with. First off how you gonna make a new version that uses a different controller? That pissed me off. Then with our frequent power outages here the v2.0s loose the time amd come on when they please whereas the origionals keep the right time and come on when theyre supposed to and dont fuck your crop by running in the middle of your night cycle. The galaxy digital logic is the exact same as the first version and even uses the same controller. Bought 2 of those to replace the v2.0 and no problems. I find it absolutely retarded that a company would make a good product then discontinue it and then make a shitty product to replace it. And its really fucked up the new ones use a diff controller while another brand uses the same old one. I can honestly say the origionals where good ballast and recommend them but since this new version bs solis tek has lost what would have been a loyal customer
Solistek ballasts? 1000w
- Thread starter stonedstoner
- Start date
I guess all these years I have only been exposed to their crappy products...
RedBeardy5
Active member
I guess all these years I have been exposed to all there good products.... Seriously guys, I work at a commercial grow and we are running about 80 of these ballasts. I have seen about 3 go bad so I'm calling bullshit.
Be wary if your in a nazi state....
I had two of the standard non-timer versions....you could hear them on am radio about 1/4 mile away at minimum. Made the same noise over the radio that the ballast itself faintly did when you were close up to it . Sound kinda reminds me of a "sample and hold" modulation on a synthesizer.
Had other electronic ballasts that didnt make any noise on same circuit previously so i dont suspect my wiring.
I had two of the standard non-timer versions....you could hear them on am radio about 1/4 mile away at minimum. Made the same noise over the radio that the ballast itself faintly did when you were close up to it . Sound kinda reminds me of a "sample and hold" modulation on a synthesizer.
Had other electronic ballasts that didnt make any noise on same circuit previously so i dont suspect my wiring.
So your running the solis tek matrix v 2.0? Im not full of shit what i said was 100% truth. The newer version runs way hotter than the first version too. We live where power gets knocked out by lightning often and the old ones kept their schedule the newer ones fucked up twice and got shitcanned for the v1 knockoff galaxy digital logics. They shoulda kept v1 for se bilbs and made v2.0 for de. I think that is where the problems started.
Running Solis Tek Matrix for 2 yrs now 1k programmable remote controlled built in timer. I love these things and they have always produced amazing results... for me they have been the best ballast I have used for over a decade of other stuff.
I have tried paring them with different bulbs.. Solis TEk HPS, Hortilux, Sun Master, Ushio... so far the Solis Tek HPS bulb when paired with the ballast has out performed everything minus the Ushio which seemed to be about the same.
Cant go wrong with the SOLIS TEK MATRIX Ballast!
SGS
I have tried paring them with different bulbs.. Solis TEk HPS, Hortilux, Sun Master, Ushio... so far the Solis Tek HPS bulb when paired with the ballast has out performed everything minus the Ushio which seemed to be about the same.
Cant go wrong with the SOLIS TEK MATRIX Ballast!
SGS
I purchased three of these, two years ago. One failed after a couple of months, refused to keep it's timer settings, and ran during the dark period, messing up my crop. Solistek--the supplier, not some vendor--took 3 weeks to replace it because they wanted to replicate the fault before they would help me. The replacement they eventually sent does the same thing, as does one of the others I still have. All three will also, for no apparent reason, periodically default to 400W output, even with 1000W bulbs installed. I gave up and put all three on a mechanical timer, where they work fine--just as well as the $100 Vivosuns I have right next to them. So in my experience: High price for an OK ballast with unreliable electronics, three defects out of four units, and indifferent customer service... no more for me.
YMMV.
YMMV.
Analog to the future!
Would love one those fancy gavita controllers...but like chuck d said...you cant truss it.
everydayJoe
New member
Did a run with a DE 1000/600 2.0 running 240v. Had issues with timer as well. Went with an external timer and ran flawlessly. Very pleased with it now.
I have a bunch of SE solistek ballasts. They last! And they just sent me an A1 DE for testing. Zero complaints.
China doesn't make anything. Chinese manufactures make whatever any given company asks them to make. The make the cheapest of the cheap and also make most of the worlds electronics. They can make Apple products or they can make plastic crap. Its called being the worlds factory. Most stuff in your house is made in China. Its why they have the wealth that America once had.
my se matrix 1000 just blew out they told me there is no repair service available very disappointed. To add injury to insult the sglite mag I purchased to replace it just developed a whine after calling solistek beforehand and asking if I could plug their splitter into a mag with two 600 hps bulbs. They said its just a splitter go ahead. I explained someone on amazon said it wouldn't light their bulbs and they were unplugging the splitter and firing a single bulb after firing that bulb and warm up they then plugged both into it solistek splitter and fired them both after we laughed about what a bad idea it is to unplug a hood from a lit ballast and plug it back in with two bulbs I am now in the same situation. First day of splitter all is dark in my room. Pissed now have a new whining sglite, a broken matrix v1, a useless splitter which by the way says right on it to only use their solis tek) bulbs so fyi not just a splitter and two new 600 bulbs to send back with the splitter. Hopefully amazon can get me out of half the mess and solistek will man up to a RMI for both ballasts by comping me a new 1000 se ballast of some sort. I'm thinking my hydro store will hook me up with a new sglite otherwise I'm super glad I threw away the receipt. sheesh if its too good to be true it is I'm going to build an LED and fk it all 
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brownstormy
Member
Let's wake up this old thread. Any better suggestions for good digital ballasts?
brownstormy
Member
Ah. We've tested many and still haven't found something as good as de-hps for flower. Been almost a year tho, so maybe it's time for more testing.
Fixer
Active member
I'm using Forever Green Indoors Uniformity Pro. I don't have the right space for the DE HPS so I don't think it's apples to apples but I'm getting better yields and quality under the big LED panels. The light shines from so many directions that much of it gets through the canopy to the lower branches. I've ordered a couple more LEDs to replace my two HPS DE fixtures.
mountainfarmer1
Member
It's just a bad idea to build a ballast with a timer IMHO. Why? Just an area that can breakdown. Obviously it's an issue. Keep it simple. I run some cheap knock-offs from Amazon that have been working fine. 1000w DE electronic ballast. I run the Phillips sun agro lamp.
