Hypothesis on how to make budget dimmable hid ballasts last longer.

I've read many reviews about cheaper hid ballasts that kick the bucket after just a couple months of use.

Some electronics such as car audio equipment call for a break in period before going full power to prevent any damage to the product. So I was wondering if the same could be applied to these cheaper dimmable hid ballasts.

By breaking it in i mean that you would run it at a low power and steadily increase over time so that all of the internal electrical components would be able to adjust to the heat and be ready for full power.

If you have any experience with these cheap ballasts such as ipower (the brand I plan on buying) or apollo then please feel free to give your advice.

Thank you.

I have had cheap ones and expensive ones and didn't have an issue with any.

The problem I have with them are the bulbs.

If you have a 600w bulb you should be running at 600w. If you want to run at super lumens or boost (660w) you are supposed to let it fire up at 600 and then switch it up to 660 after 15-20 minutes. This is manufacturers advice but is rarely mentioned.

If you want to run at 400w, say because of a heat wave, you are supposed to unscrew your 600 bulb and screw in a 400w.

If you don't do these things then your bulb life is shortened and in some cases might blow after a few days, especially when running at boost.

Like I say I never had an issue with the ballasts themselves dying though.

But all these cheap ballasts are made in china. There is always the chance when buying anything produced on the cheap that the return rates or fail rate is going to be higher.

I was all excited when I first bought digi dim ballasts, but really its a gimmick. You can buy non dimmable digital ballasts much cheaper and just have a spare lower wattage one for if and when its needed.

I had 4 600w digi dims , 2 of which were expensive and sold to me my a friend who had them a few years, I continued to use them for about 4 more years and they are now running in someone elses set up with no issue.
The other 2 were cheap lumii ones and are in their 5th year of running.

I wasn't aware that dimming the ballast could shorten a bulbs life like that if you didnt switch to a lower wattage bulb. Interesting. It seems like there's either really cheap grow equipment or really expensive but very few middle class options. I can unfortunately only afford the cheap stuff at the moment.