Magnetic vs Digital Ballasts.
- Thread starter Carthoris
- Start date
I bought the cheapest 600w magnetic I could buy - 90 dollars shipped. I've got the 2-300 to spend, what 600w digital do you suggest I run against it?
Any new grower who comes to this thread trying to decide which to buy, these are the facts:
"efficiency" of digital ballasts have been proven to be offset by the initial cost of the ballast. (unless you run the digital ballast for 5 years, it cost more per day/week/month/year to run and how many digitals have been around for 5 years? Has anyone here had a digital ballast for 5 years? How many magnetic ballasts last for 10+ years?)
Magnetic Ballasts are reliable - most ballasts last longer than you will require them to, and if they break, they are easily repaired and for little $. Digital, if it breaks and its not under warranty you throw it away, its not fixable.
You are better served spending the 100$ on cooling or carbon filters than a digital, if you have been growing or 10 years and are just looking for the next upgrade maybe digitals are right for you.
If you are new, your budget probably isn't 10k dollars, and the 100+ you would save going magnetic could be applied towards exhaust, carbon filters, PH, or nutrients.
Any new grower who comes to this thread trying to decide which to buy, these are the facts:
"efficiency" of digital ballasts have been proven to be offset by the initial cost of the ballast. (unless you run the digital ballast for 5 years, it cost more per day/week/month/year to run and how many digitals have been around for 5 years? Has anyone here had a digital ballast for 5 years? How many magnetic ballasts last for 10+ years?)
Magnetic Ballasts are reliable - most ballasts last longer than you will require them to, and if they break, they are easily repaired and for little $. Digital, if it breaks and its not under warranty you throw it away, its not fixable.
You are better served spending the 100$ on cooling or carbon filters than a digital, if you have been growing or 10 years and are just looking for the next upgrade maybe digitals are right for you.
If you are new, your budget probably isn't 10k dollars, and the 100+ you would save going magnetic could be applied towards exhaust, carbon filters, PH, or nutrients.
bajafox
Well-Known Member
Personally, I don't know why any new grower with the budget for a 600w set up would even consider going magnetic, if you have the space and money to go for 600w, why not spend the extra $100 for a much cooler, dimmable and more efficient (regardless of the lifespan) ballast? To me, going magnetic on a 600w is cutting corners, I know because that was the first route I took.
I went digital and I'm never looking back, even if I have to buy 2 a year which I highly doubt I will have to do. I'm a new grower, only 4 months in and I had the money for the digital ballast, I had no problem dishing out the extra money for it.
I went digital and I'm never looking back, even if I have to buy 2 a year which I highly doubt I will have to do. I'm a new grower, only 4 months in and I had the money for the digital ballast, I had no problem dishing out the extra money for it.
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
Magnetic for ever - that´s how long they last as well !!!
Baja, if you buy a digital ballast every 2 years vs a magnetic every 5 you are spending (300 for 600 digital vs 150 for 600 magnetic) $750 vs $150. Do you really think a few hundred dollars of exhaust wouldn't make the magnetic a more reliable, cost efficient, and cooler alternative? 600 dollars could probably run a room air conditioner(in Florida) for 5 years to keep your grow 75. (4x4 room insulated, it only costs me 300 max in summer to keep 1500 sq feet at 70, if you live somewhere that has a winter you will save much more) You could run CO2, AC, and then some for the cost of the digital.
bajafox
Well-Known Member
Those numbers look great, but like I've said before, I already had magnetic. I'm not a big fan of the noise, the heat and to be honest, it just looked too damn ugly. I had the extra money for it so I spent it.
I don't have any heating issues, my tent require's 400w and I can easily run 600w SL when the heat wave is over. I have it set to 400w right now over 6 plants and it hasn't gotten over 88F. Today I'm trying a new C02 "gadget" that my friend got at a hydro expo, they cost the same as it would to run C02 tanks minus the start up cost.
I don't have any heating issues, my tent require's 400w and I can easily run 600w SL when the heat wave is over. I have it set to 400w right now over 6 plants and it hasn't gotten over 88F. Today I'm trying a new C02 "gadget" that my friend got at a hydro expo, they cost the same as it would to run C02 tanks minus the start up cost.
LT1RX7 Drifter
Active Member
screw digital balast my nextgen 400/600 is a pile of crap i have had it less then a year with less then 4 moths of use and it doesnt work at all only the cooling fans operate, and cap industries has the most horrible warranty, quote from greg fox "send it in and we replace with a refurbished unit" its company polisy to rip the consumer off, with nothing done about why it failed just replace a diode or resistor and test for a few hours and and check with two different meters and call it a day, design flaw period im not the only one either
bajafox
Well-Known Member
I bought mine from my local hydroshop. I spoke to the owner and told him about my future plans and now I'm in his computer to automatically receive 15% off anything in his store. He told me personally that if I have any issues with my ballast over the next 3 years to bring it in. I paid extra for what I thought was the best digital ballast I could afford and for good quality service. I don't have a single worry about replacing my digital ballast if it goes bad for the next 3 years, which won't matter because I might not even need it by then
Baja, I trust HTG supply as a company. I trust them to take care of me 100% if I buy something there that doesn't work properly, and do it quickly. I feel comfortable buying from them, and I trust them as a company. They are the best place to buy in my opinion. Best price, they price match, and even if it was a couple dollars more to order from ebay, Id order from HTGSupply because I true them. However, do I want to ship in a ballast every 6 months, no. I could buy a digital and not worry about it at all for replacements, but replacing it over and over would piss me off, especially when it costs more and there is little benefit to me (and most others) to buying one.
I am going to contact HTG supply and see if they are interested in letting me run a digital greenhouse, a lumatek, and a magnetic generic against each other to see about light output and reliability.
I am going to contact HTG supply and see if they are interested in letting me run a digital greenhouse, a lumatek, and a magnetic generic against each other to see about light output and reliability.
Little Tommy
Well-Known Member
I guess you can talk yourself into anything if you have to. lol
I just bought a 1000watt magnetic ballast online from HTG. Two $100 blown bulbs later I realized the ballast was defective. The bulbs would blow within 10 min of getting turned on. I had to find a hydro shop open on Sunday to buy a new ballast, and bulbs. HTG is closed Sun and Mon, so tomorrow I am going to go into the actual store and see just how right they're going to make this.
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
You are bothered what it LOOKED LIKE?? OK, a fool and his money are soon parted.
bajafox
Well-Known Member
Let me know if you do, I'll be glad to read about it.
Did you even read my first post where I stated the difference in temperatures immediately after I switched to digital?
Maybe next time you should read page 3 before skipping to page 5, lol
Spanishfly
Well-Known Member
No, I was replying to your thread number 47 where you were just moaning how ugly it was and SPECIFICALLY stated that you had no heating issues.
Come on, be consistent.
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
Lumatek dimmable digital ballasts are the shit. Order from HTG Garden Supply. If it does go bad. Box it up and ship. Call them with the tracking number and the new ballast will pass the old ballast in the mail. But my 2-600's have performed flawlessly for over 2 years now. 3yr full/2yr prorated warranty. Hard too beat. And magnetic ballasts do go bad and fade over time. Nothing lasts forever. Get a light meter. Compare a cheap mag, high end mag and a lumatek. You will be surprised at the difference between the 3 when it comes to output. Lumatek wins everytime. Like alot of things in life. You get what you pay for.
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
Then why do you answer questions when you obviously are not educated on the subject? Your answers are opinion, not fact. Like I said before, not that in the know.
http://www.420magazine.com/forums/grow-supply-product-reviews/108192-truth-about-magnetic-ballasts-power-wastage.html
I came upon that, its a good read and interesting. The basics of it are he hooked up 2 400w's and 1 150w and checked it with an energy usage meter and it only came out to 962 watts. That means the ballasts(3 of them) were only sucking down 12 watts combined to power 950 watt of lights.(962 watts went in, 950 went out, in case anyone doesn't see that) How much more efficient can you get than that? Its only something like 5 watts being lost to the 400w magnetic ballast. Ill put some bullet points from it. Keep in mind, I didn't do these tests, and I'm just posting the information.
- a 400w hps magnetic ballast uses about 5 watts more than it outputs at normal operation.
- Digital Ballasts may be rated more efficient by calculating the 'spike' of energy needed to start a bulb by the magnetic ballast.
- 5 watts an hour x 12 = 60 x 30 = 1800. 1800 watts = 1.8 kw, 1.8 kw is something like 20 cents where I live, more or less. That would be the monthly savings for a digital in flowering according to those numbers.
- Someone suggested that the reason digital ballasts run cooler are because they are a huge aluminum heatsink, whereas magnetic ballasts have absolutely no heatsink in most cases. They went further to say this could be the only reason they are cooler, and not due to efficiency.
- The reason most magnetic ballasts are loud is because your enclosure is cheap or the screws are loose or other issues not really due to it being magnetic.
The energy usage thing surprised me, but I already assumed the other things. I am going to get a lumen tester and a kill-a-watt and see how many watts my new 600 and my 400 use. My new 600, since its in a large commercial case actually makes less noise.
If digitals don't get hot, why do they have exhaust fans built in? Wouldn't putting an exhaust fan in the case of a magnetic ballast make it run very much cooler? Or alternatively a foot long aluminum heatsink on it like the lumateks?
On another note, switching from 400w hps to 600w hps with aircooled hood only raised the temps by 1 degree in my 2x4 with 1 modded stanley blower operating it.
I came upon that, its a good read and interesting. The basics of it are he hooked up 2 400w's and 1 150w and checked it with an energy usage meter and it only came out to 962 watts. That means the ballasts(3 of them) were only sucking down 12 watts combined to power 950 watt of lights.(962 watts went in, 950 went out, in case anyone doesn't see that) How much more efficient can you get than that? Its only something like 5 watts being lost to the 400w magnetic ballast. Ill put some bullet points from it. Keep in mind, I didn't do these tests, and I'm just posting the information.
- a 400w hps magnetic ballast uses about 5 watts more than it outputs at normal operation.
- Digital Ballasts may be rated more efficient by calculating the 'spike' of energy needed to start a bulb by the magnetic ballast.
- 5 watts an hour x 12 = 60 x 30 = 1800. 1800 watts = 1.8 kw, 1.8 kw is something like 20 cents where I live, more or less. That would be the monthly savings for a digital in flowering according to those numbers.
- Someone suggested that the reason digital ballasts run cooler are because they are a huge aluminum heatsink, whereas magnetic ballasts have absolutely no heatsink in most cases. They went further to say this could be the only reason they are cooler, and not due to efficiency.
- The reason most magnetic ballasts are loud is because your enclosure is cheap or the screws are loose or other issues not really due to it being magnetic.
The energy usage thing surprised me, but I already assumed the other things. I am going to get a lumen tester and a kill-a-watt and see how many watts my new 600 and my 400 use. My new 600, since its in a large commercial case actually makes less noise.
If digitals don't get hot, why do they have exhaust fans built in? Wouldn't putting an exhaust fan in the case of a magnetic ballast make it run very much cooler? Or alternatively a foot long aluminum heatsink on it like the lumateks?
On another note, switching from 400w hps to 600w hps with aircooled hood only raised the temps by 1 degree in my 2x4 with 1 modded stanley blower operating it.
