What's the best quality and value in ballasts today? Magnetic or digital brands

[log roller]

Looking to set up a bigger grow here soon. Who makes the best ballasts these days, at an affordable price? I've always used Lumatek and they work great, but are expensive. I need a good budget option, magnetic or digital, that will last years with no issues. Any suggestions appreciated...thank you

 

[Chunkypigs]

Stay away from anything with a fan. The new DE fixtures are the way to go and Gavita thousands are crazy cheap online now, $200.

I have the latest Nanolux DE CMH 1000 and the light is deluxe but over $500 each.

The Gavita flex 750s replace a single ended thousand really well and I'm firing a 630 DE CMH at the 600 watt setting with no issues in mine.

 

[mack 10]

Yo chunky, which store got them Gravitas bud? $200 is a steal.

 

[thailer]

i just replaced my first magnetic ballast i bought five years ago because it finally broke and bought two used phantom DE setups for $200 from a used hydro store. OfferUp and craigslist also had them ranging from $75-160 for an entire setup. I'm really happy with the upgrade so far and would like to switch out the other room light but i still have working magnetic ballasts that need to break first. lol

 

[Hold Your Fire]

I've been desperately clinging to my mags.

It appears extra head space is required for DE's???

3-4 ft. between bulb and plant tops???

I grow in tents inside a basement with 7 ft ceilings, so when I ditch the tents this year still not much head space.

Anyone have experience with Hortilux Gold e-ballasts?

 

[thailer]

The DE lights are much hotter than single ended. i bought two different style of DE: one open hood commercial style with the attached ballast and the other is a vented hood with the glass removed and the ballast for that is outside the room. the open hood is cooler under the canopy than the one that came with a hood. so they are cheap but you may have to pay out money towards ventilation and cooling. my ceiling is 9' tall and i'm wondering how this first round will go. i wouldn't do it with seven foot tall height limit.

 

[Chunkypigs]

Yo chunky, which store got them Gravitas bud? $200 is a steal.

Amazon and Big online retail and all the bigger hydro shops.

This one is 225 but if you troll you will find 200-210.

https://www.amazon.com/Gavita-90605...ocphy=1022736&hvtargid=pla-375566645197&psc=1

Found them for $179 here in 2 minutes with the google.... https://growitbest.com/products/gavita-pro-classic-1000-de-complete-fixture-240-volt-on-sale


The small hydro spots are still raping on fixtures tho...

 

[Ibechillin]

@Hold Your Fire

Gavita 1000 DE i grow under 215 cm ceiling (7 ft) ,5x5 tent,its perfect for this space.. for now record in one run is 1800 grams with just 15 days of vegetation.. if i veg for longer they go over a hood..vegetation under Gavita gives some huge rates of growth..

trick is also to shape canopy in stadium shape or bowl shape for better yields..

@log roller

As far as MH/HPS magnetic ballasts ive ran a bunch of hydrofarm/xtrasun, sun system harvest pro and sun system hardcore series 1000w ballasts for years without issues in the past (most were purchased used).

I bought alot of equipment from a used equipment hydro/grow store like thailer mentioned.

 

[frostqueen]

If I were expanding I'd definitely look into CMH. The bulb length of life and power savings alone are a huge draw, but they also produce a fine product and don't generate as much heat as Gavitas do. And: you veg and flower under the same bulbs.

 

[f-e]

I like the flexibility of the adjustable electronic ballasts when stepping things up through grow. Then switch to magnetic's for flower. The 12/12 pattern is too easy to recognise.

 

[Hold Your Fire]

If I were expanding I'd definitely look into CMH. The bulb length of life and power savings alone are a huge draw, but they also produce a fine product and don't generate as much heat as Gavitas do. And: you veg and flower under the same bulbs.

Leaning towards these over Gavita.

@Chunky The prices of those ballasts are cheaper than what I've seen but they are 240v. I'm not wired for that. I'll be many are not.

The 240/120 volt was $100 more.

I need 3, not 10 or more, so it's not a huge deal just pointing it out....

 

[Chunkypigs]

Leaning towards these over Gavita.

@Chunky The prices of those ballasts are cheaper than what I've seen but they are 240v. I'm not wired for that. I'll be many are not.

The 240/120 volt was $100 more.

I need 3, not 10 or more, so it's not a huge deal just pointing it out....

Everyone's wired for 240 in the US, your clothes dryer, range, oven and hot water heater run on it if they are electric and sending a 240 circuit to your grow space is a simple DIY task in most homes.

I did not run the 240 circuit to my converted bedroom through the walls, just stapled the wires to the basement ceiling and then up through the floor and stapled to the wall.

Easy to remove when you are finished growing. Industrial 240 volt timers are about $60 and are wired into the circuit or you could purchase a controller that matches your fixtures and eliminate the timer.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=28165&pictureid=1894916

Either way they are much safer than running thousands on 120 volt circuits through the cheap timers and extension cords that growers typically use.

 

[f-e]

I have found many homes once had electric water heaters in storage cylinders. Cylinders removed when heating systems moved from the old systems used decades ago, to 'combi' boilers that supply hot water on demand. These circuits are often sat on the wall in towel closets, unused and ready to be extended. Most will supply 3000w, but obviously the individual installation would need to be looked at to confirm this.

These cylinders often lived in 1st floor 'airing cupboards' and you may not even realise you have the cabling there. Bringing 240 from your service intake, almost to your bedroom.

 

[Hold Your Fire]

I know my dryer and range and things like that are 240v. I meant I don't have 240v outlets anywhere near my grow.

I've been considering a 3000w flower room.

If I have to run wire and have an electrician come, hook something up I'd rather it be a controller suitable for 3-4 lights.

Right now, I'm running 2 tents with a 1000w hps in each for flower. No extension cords but yes, titan Apollo 8 timers. Each tent, it's light, fans etc are on it's own 20 amp circuit..

If I continue with the two tents I'll replace ballasts, when it's time(to cmh?), and stick with 120v. Why I came to this thread in the first place.

I know I should upgrade to those timers too. I have one already. Just haven't had issues with the titans.

 

[log roller]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I'm studying these CMHs. Looks like 315W is a slam dunk replacement for 400 HPS, but potentially expensive to scale up. Unfortunately the CMH threads seem to have petered out (maybe something to do with all of the contributors having been banned) so it's hard to get the latest info there. Has anyone used the Eonboom ballasts from China? They have quite a selection of low freq square wave electronic ballasts for CMH, and super cheap. What about the aftermarket CMH bulbs, are they any good? Do they last as long as the Phillips? If these ballasts are worth a shit it looks like running 3x 315W bulbs would be quite doable and much more efficient than a 1kW HPS/MH.

 

[log roller]

OK, found some great threads including the latest CMH thread, and issack's direct comparison between CM and HPS. Seems clear that 315 CMH will hang with a 600 HPS, and two of them bitch slaps a 1k. Fukken Sold. The Gavitas don't really hold much interest to me, for multiple reasons; looks like CMH is the way to go. The problem is setting up a larger room with these lights on a shoestring budget. Looks like the Eonboom aka EBM ballasts are worth taking a chance on. The Phillips ballasts and others are just too pricey, unless I can score some deals on Ebay.

 

[log roller]

What is the best quality and value in ballasts today? It just might be the Lumatek 1000W. I went to put two extra ballasts on ebay to hopefully raise some funds to buy a CMH ballast or three, only to find the market is absolutely flooded with good used Lumateks for $75 or less, shipping included. Guess the herd must be stampeding in the direction of Gavitas and/or CMH. I would hate to be Lumatek right now, trying to sell new ballasts at $300-350+ into this market. Kicking myself for not climbing aboard the CMH train sooner!