????Quantum or Lumatek????

[ENDLSCYCLE]

Walked into my fav. hydro store the other day to look at dimmable ballast...currently using a standard switchable 400w Lumatek for 4 yrs now with no problems and want the abillity to run diff. wattages throughout the year.
When I asked the salesman at the store if they carried the 1Kwatt Lumatek dimmable ballast...he laughed and ran off to find the other salespeople in the store so they could join in on the laughter...he then swears by this quantum ballast priced at $380 and says this ballast will run for life with no problems. I then tell him about my great experience with Lumatek and it just begins the laughter again. So I leave.
I then head over to the other hydro store in my area that I dont frequent that often due to the size of the store(they just dont have much variety of product). I ask this salesman at this store if he carries the quantum ballat that the other store wanted to charge $380 for and he then shows me this Lumatek dimmable ballast that he claims is the #1 ballast on the market(priced at $360).
WTF...I know everyone has their personal prefferance but to laugh in my face when asking for a particular item is just plain f'd up.....
So......which one is better??????? I love Lumatek....but am willing to switch if someone can assure me that I will not be dissapointed.
Thanks RIU

 

[dragonbud]

Bought a Lumatek 600 watt. It was the new dimmable version. Lasted 29 days and then it was fried. It had that burnt electronics smell coming from it. Called up BG hydro and they sent me another one, I was within 30 days, whew...I was using a fancy 600 watt bulb with lots of lumens. I saw on the internet that the Lumateks lacked the initial start up (pulse voltage) for the fancier lamps. I heard that if you use a regular bulb that you will be fine. I still got to hook up the return ballast they sent me. But on the flip side, I have a 600 watt regular, non dimmable Lumatek, good to go for a year and a half, wtf? If It was my money I would try a Quantam, that's one of the green ones right?

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

Bought a Lumatek 600 watt. It was the new dimmable version. Lasted 29 days and then it was fried. It had that burnt electronics smell coming from it. Called up BG hydro and they sent me another one, I was within 30 days, whew...I was using a fancy 600 watt bulb with lots of lumens. I saw on the internet that the Lumateks lacked the initial start up (pulse voltage) for the fancier lamps. I heard that if you use a regular bulb that you will be fine. I still got to hook up the return ballast they sent me. But on the flip side, I have a 600 watt regular, non dimmable Lumatek, good to go for a year and a half, wtf? If It was my money I would try a Quantam, that's one of the green ones right?

wow...29 days???? thats shitty....i kinda heard the same thing....was wanting to do the hortilux dual arc(600w hps &400w mh in one bulb) but heard that just the regular ass bulbs are the best to use in the dimmable....The quantum I was looking at was orange or goldish colored.

 

[dragonbud]

Hopefully the Lumatek was just a fluke. I was trying to talk the salesperson into trading the burnt ballast for another make, they didn't want to. I was thinking maybe I might just leave the switch to the 600 position all the time, maybe the problem is in the dim portion of the ballast? I was really looking forward to using the dim portion to save money on my power bills, maybe using the lower setting when the plants are smaller and then the super boost when they are in full budding and C02 fortified. The green one I was thinking of was a Sun System "Galaxy" dimmable ballast, google that one, it looks really sweet, has a nice looking model holding it with green eyes.

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

yeah ive seen that ad.....little slut

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

my plan with the 1K watt model was to use the superlumens feature in the winter and then dim down to 600 in the hot summer months

 

[BoomerBloomer57]

I'm running two Lumatek 1000 watt dimables,,,, and four more in the cabinet waiting to get hooked up.

I'll stay with em

I use Sunmaster for veg, ge luminox for flower,,,,

No problems.

If I EVER have a problem with any of my gear, I box it up
and take it to the hydro store that I have been going to since 1964
and they replace it on the spot.

 

[dragonbud]

That would be cool to get that level of service at your local hydro store. I buy online because of the pricing. My local hydro store is way too pricey, ie.. a 200 dollar ballast for 400 schmakarels. I didn't enjoy boxing my fried ballast up and shipping it UPS, I had to eat the shipping also.

 

[dragonbud]

I have a 1000 watt light but it has a magnetic ballast. I would like to dim it down. What's the lowest wattage a 1000 will go down to? I sure would like to save some power on my 1000.

 

[dragonbud]

I agree with endlycycle on the little alien girl with green eyes, she's a space alien slut with two vaginas. You would have to put your phazer on stun to get her in the sac.

 

[BoomerBloomer57]

is it switchable from 110 to 220?

My old reliables are.

Made a HUGE difference when I rewired them to the 220

 

[Mountainfarmer]

For what it's worth i'd stay away from all dimmable ballast. To many moving parts and a relatively new design. Maybe in a few years when they get the bugs worked out. I own (3) 1000 watt nextgens. i use 2 and have the third for back up. 6 months after initial fireup i went into the grow room to find 1 lamp not fireing. These nextgens have diagnostic code lights on them, but even they were DEAD. It was shipped back and replaced. If I could do it over again I would prbably go with magnetic ballast for their ease of use and maintainence. Not to mention I could have saved $500.00

 

[BoomerBloomer57]

For what it's worth i'd stay away from all dimmable ballast. To many moving parts and a relatively new design. Maybe in a few years when they get the bugs worked out. I own (3) 1000 watt nextgens. i use 2 and have the third for back up. 6 months after initial fireup i went into the grow room to find 1 lamp not fireing. These nextgens have diagnostic code lights on them, but even they were DEAD. It was shipped back and replaced. If I could do it over again I would prbably go with magnetic ballast for their ease of use and maintainence. Not to mention I could have saved $500.00

Notice I said my old RELIABLES?
Got a closet full of em.
Got a nice collection of L.E.D. lights too. Thank god I figured out a use on the boat for them or they'd sit in the Fool shed forever.

I'm trying to squeeze as much efficiency into my op as I can. I'll keep trying till I get that down pat and the Lumateks
were my choice. Now I just keep track of the numbers to see if it works.

So far, so much better with lumateks.

Just my experience with em, and I always have backup in case I'm wrong.

cya

 

[dragonbud]

I got a switch to flip to the 220 volts, never considered that the higher voltage would be a better way of going. It would be a big pain for me to run the 220 in my situation, I would love it for a welder too.

 

[BoomerBloomer57]

220 is an absolute must.

There is a hell of a lot of juice running my stuff. Have to slow that spinning meter any way I can.

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

yeah 220 would be awesome....thinking of rewireing the whole house next summer and that will def. be part of the work done.

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

anyone have any input on the quantums??????

 

[G37Kush]

I'm wondering the same thing. Im planning on buying a Yield Master Reflector with a Quantum 600 W Ballast. Dont wanna spend the extra money if it just blows smoke.

 

[ENDLSCYCLE]

yeah....but from what im noticing....its ur preferance.....some say lumatek sucks......some say quantum sucks.......?????IDK?????

 

[G37Kush]

Is Quantum fairly new? or no one really doesnt wanna give any feedback on both ballasts?