Bay6 hps

Anyone run those budget Bay6 or similar HPS ballasts? They are £50 for a full kit, magnetic is less digital dimmable slightly more.

I want to pull the trigger having run HPS before but don't need budget equipment if it's in danger of running too hot or lighting up in flames down the line.

Gregshed said:

Anyone run those budget Bay6 or similar HPS ballasts? They are £50 for a full kit, magnetic is less digital dimmable slightly more.

I want to pull the trigger having run HPS before but don't need budget equipment if it's in danger of running too hot or lighting up in flames down the line.

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Never heard of it but my best warning in general
Paranoia is almost the number one way to fail on many levels
Commit then stay silent
If something seems to be good to be true it probably is
Good luck on your journey

HPS has gotten so cheap since the focus is all on led, they seem to be in all the major grow shops online. Not the only budget line, lumii do the same.

Just so cheap I really would buy if there was no issues running them and maybe some guarantee of quality.

blow a ballast then you'll sing a different song.

mudballs said:

blow a ballast then you'll sing a different song.

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I personally feel like this is a valid point. We're not talking cfl's here, and I wouldn't want anything questionable when dealing with that much voltage.

I've had my share of ballasts magnetic and digital but I've not had one fail, from what I see on the forum and what I've experienced with both types of lighting we're more likely to encounter trouble with leds.

Such low prices, on Amazon a Bay6 digital ballast and Bay6 tent comes in at a touch over £100. I have a fan and filter already.

Any light system will fail...just calling HPS "the cheap option" is ummm how should i put this...juvenille in scope

Star Dog said:

I've had my share of ballasts magnetic and digital but I've not had one fail, from what I see on the forum and what I've experienced with both types of lighting we're more likely to encounter trouble with leds.

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True. Although the most catastrophic failure I can recall is @Wattzzup showing off his exploded hps. I did see today a thread with someone complaining their spider farmer board shorted out and "could have caught fire", but that honestly seemed less problematic, imo. Personally I don't have experience with too many failures in lighting that I can recall, touch wood.

Do you have a link to this exploded Hps?

I know I said cheap option but I meant I wouldn't buy another tent and light if it cost more as I have some already but really fancied a 4x4 and hps again so when I saw the price it was hard not to buy sorry.

HID is still king IMO.

People are practically giving away old tech around here too, so not even sure I would fork out much unless you need 1 or 2. I see huge lots of mag ballasts go for so cheap in online marketplaces.

Its easy to repair\maintain any mag ballast (even a smoked one) and all the parts will be available forever. Can't say the same for digital.

No one here really talks about how LED\digital ballast's filthy frequencies affect health. If it's bad enough to be interfering with the cable company imagine what it could be doing to a baby's undeveloped brain...

Then again those cheap bay 6 mags might be using more toxic chemicals in the production process, hence the lower price. Who knows what the warm plastic wire coating (or whatever they pot the transformer with?) is off gassing for the first 6 months. Anyways..


Even the cheap HID bulbs are great, just replace them every grow for max lumen output. Skip the expensive types of bulbs.


Digital dimmable ballasts actually cause bulbs to not burn at the right temp, and reduce output. Even the bulbs marked as being made for digital are affected.

Just go with straight 600s for max efficiency.

If you live in a cooler climate, you would almost be a fool to buy LED, and still possibly have to run a heater or other additional gear to keep your leaf temps (VPD,environment, etc) in check. With HPS, all that infrared light that the plants don't absorb can be heating your house too.



Oh ya.. and I believe they still produce retrofit CMH bulbs that plug right into most mag ballasts (some have to hang vertically like the
Philips 860W CDM All Start grow lamp made for 1000 ballasts.) I have a CDM 330w bulb for my old 400 watt ballast. Not sure if you can find them still but they do cost more, and last longer.

You can have ceramic HID without buying all that new re engineered digital gear.

One thing for sure cheap bulbs are generally pish according to spectrum tests, for budget end growlux have a excellent spectrum and philip's green power for more expensive but last longer, for the price of a growlux i replaced mine every grow 2 at most... In old money 5% = £350/450 imo £25 was money well spent at half that.

Check out the independent bulb tests on Google.

Gregshed said:

Do you have a link to this exploded Hps?

I know I said cheap option but I meant I wouldn't buy another tent and light if it cost more as I have some already but really fancied a 4x4 and hps again so when I saw the price it was hard not to buy sorry.

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I was happy to run a lesser bulb knowing that at the time of replacement I would upgrade it.

LEDs are brilliant but not in my budget for this tent. They are actually quite costly here hopefully they come down to the £150 £200 mark at some point but with all those parts and costs that's probably years off yet.

I was either going to get a 400w magnetic in a 3x3 or dim the digital to 400w, seems a sweet spot and something I've done before with stunning results.

I guess I'll take the plunge, I'm normally at home for the lights on period so any issues shouldn't get out of hand and if I buy from a grow shop that should guarantee if it does blow up and disfigure me.

Killaki said:

LED vs HID finally a clear winner!

Ok guys the LED vs HID argument for me is finally over. My 600HPS bulb decided to explode and the hot bulb parts fell to the ground and melted a hole in the bottom of my tent. Luckily I am in the basement. But beware if you’re growing on carpet and using HID lights they CAN explode!

rollitup.org

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Luckily it was just the bulb but wow!

Gregshed said:

Luckily it was just the bulb but wow!

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Once when I was a kid I was playing with a lighter in the bedroom and somehow lit the bed on fire. Honestly I don't even remember causing any sort of fire but it must have been me. Totally engulfed the whole bedroom. My point being, it only takes a spark.

Killaki said:

Once when I was a kid I was playing with a lighter in the bedroom and somehow lit the bed on fire. Honestly I don't even remember causing any sort of fire but it must have been me. Totally engulfed the whole bedroom. My point being, it only takes a spark.

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I think that's always been a worry running grow lights but I've accepted the risk and always play safe.

That's kind of why I wanted to check that these budget type sodium lights were still acceptable not just cheap knockoffs.

Most newer type digital ballasts have fail safes and I've always kept the bulbs clean and dust free.

calvin.m16 said:

You get what you pay for

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I wish that was always true but a lot of companies have bigger overheads, advertising and far too many whistles and bells upping the price. Sometimes the cheaper option just avoids all that.

Gregshed said:

I wish that was always true but a lot of companies have bigger overheads, advertising and far too many whistles and bells upping the price. Sometimes the cheaper option just avoids all that.

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Don't make stupid purchases like spending $1,300 USD on a LED fixture that costs $500 to build.

I'm pretty sure wherever OP is runs on 240 volt power service anyways eh? Get yourself one of these shipped somehow, call GrowGreenMI or let me figure out shipping and I'll help ya get one.