Looking for information on my change from 1000w to 600w

After being under 2-1000 watts of heat for the last year I have decided to make the switch to 2-600watts; granted my heat problems are not necessarily due to the 2000watts, but that they are blasting with no enclosed hood. Instead of switching to 2 1000 watt enclosed hoods I have decided to make a jump to 2-600's; from what I understand 2 600's use less than a 1000? Anyhow, dont need the extra energy dont need the heat.

I currently have a 600 watt big kahuna, with switchable digital balast and absolutely love it; its what I want for the flowering room where I will be replacing the 2-1000 watters. However, I do not want to pay the 375 a pop that I paid in the local garden store. I want to spend as close to 200/light as possible, and was wondering if anyone can refer me to some online stores that are trustworthy (have a valid warranty service, good customer service, and fair prices). I have done a lot of shopping and found what seems just like my kahuna setup, however am looking for some advice and input before I hit the bank account with another investment.

Thanks in advance for your help!

http://solis-tek.com/digital-ballasts/matrix-1000-digital-ballast.html

this is a link to a ballast i love .............1000 600 400 watt .......all in one digital built in timer remote
check out there light bulbs too they have a higher lumen output and more UV light (even in the HPS has UV light )


if u are going to build a flowering room this would be your best choice since it will allow u to go to the 600w u want but u can change the bulb out and go back to 1000w if u decide

just need the ballast the hoods are interchangeable aslong as the plug head is a S plug

I've had no issues with ipower/apollo horticulture items from Amazon. Check on there.

Just got my 3rd ipower ballast all work great for me. One is magnetic other two digital. One I had a warranty claim, super easy. Sent an email with my original purchase order, heard back within 2 days. All they needed was a tracking # when I sent it out, then they sent the replacement

rekoj0916 said:

I've had no issues with ipower/apollo horticulture items from Amazon. Check on there.

Just got my 3rd ipower ballast all work great for me. One is magnetic other two digital. One I had a warranty claim, super easy. Sent an email with my original purchase order, heard back within 2 days. All they needed was a tracking # when I sent it out, then they sent the replacement

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apollo and ipower are dimable ballast (i used myself ) but if u mess with the dimmer on it and change it passed 100% u are messing with the light bulb and the lightwaves it makes ..............

if he gets a select a watt one ;like i linked he can use 400/600/1000 w lights bulbs in the same ballast unit ........so he can keep it for a longer amount of time and get more out of the investment

justugh said:

apollo and ipower are dimable ballast (i used myself ) but if u mess with the dimmer on it and change it passed 100% u are messing with the light bulb and the lightwaves it makes ..............

if he gets a select a watt one ;like i linked he can use 400/600/1000 w lights bulbs in the same ballast unit ........so he can keep it for a longer amount of time and get more out of the investment

Click to expand...

I just checked the spectrum of 430w hps and the 430w dimmed to 250w, and yes the spectrum does shift, reds become more yellow and blues moves towards green.
I haven't tested it but I'd say overdriving a hps would improve the spectrum.

auswolf said:

I just checked the spectrum of 430w hps and the 430w dimmed to 250w, and yes the spectrum does shift, reds become more yellow and blues moves towards green.
I haven't tested it but I'd say overdriving a hps would improve the spectrum.

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the overdrive is for the bulb when is gets to about 50% of the life done

if u did not know ..........most bulbs by most pro growers are only run for about half their life then they sell them off to ppl ...........it is becuase the lumen lvls go down and a slight shift in the spec so to get the most out of the time they will just replace it

the overdrive is the markets atempt to stop that .........the idea is by kicking it up 5...10% they will regain those lost lumens and get the spec back to target

the reason the dimables are bad is the bulbs are not made to work that way so when u lower the power they get it damaged............. the wiring and the gas......it keeps tring to get to that hum lvl but u are not allowing too...........and since most of the system are designed for 100% 75% and 50% u can only ever match the bulb and power with 1 light when it set to 100%...............a select a watt is the one where u can use 400/600/1000 bulb (but it always runs at 100% some offer boosters)

justugh said:

the overdrive is for the bulb when is gets to about 50% of the life done

if u did not know ..........most bulbs by most pro growers are only run for about half their life then they sell them off to ppl ...........

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If i dont know? pro growers? sell them off to people? Ohh yeah..... I get ya drift.......Im just some scrub that grows crap with shitty second hand bulbs.

justugh said:

the reason the dimables are bad is the bulbs are not made to work that way so when u lower the power they get it damaged............. the wiring and the gas......it keeps tring to get to that hum lvl but u are not allowing too...........

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The wiring and the gas......hum lvl........? Hold on there a sec, that's way to technical for me. Could you please dumb it down a notch or two ?

All I stated was that dimming changes spectrum in a bad way, and that overdriving would Improve spectrum. And with that being said, overdrive setting on ballasts is such a small increase in power that it would hardly effect the spectrum.

Here's a couple of spectrum graphs showing a 430w bulb running on a 400w ballast being
overdriven, it also shows a 250w hps running normally. I did that to make sure my 430w bulb was burning correctly. The other graph shows what happens when you dim a bulb,
In this case a 430w bulb running at 250w.

dumb it down ok

a car on idle.............when it is tuned right gas air mix it purrs .........this is ballast on 100%
now when u turn it down u are choking out part of the gas and what happends to a car it spudders and misfires ............this is the same thing in the bulbs ......they keep trying to get to idle burn the gas at the correct power and pulse in the glass but since u have reduced it .......it nevers gets there so it is like a misfiring car it will work but it is doing damage to itself and lost alot of the over all useable power

auswolf said:

If i dont know? pro growers? sell them off to people? Ohh yeah..... I get ya drift.......Im just some scrub that grows crap with shitty second hand bulbs.

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sir i do not know u from adam or steve ..................to assume u know something makes ass out of u and me ...........so i said what i said i did not know until i learned it here (did not think ppl are dicks like that )........by the way a pro grower is someone that works doing this as a job to supply shops most of us here are home hobby

i did not mean it wrong or insulting

as for dumbing things down yes i do to many fucking words mean the same damn thing but has a different inflection so this allows ppl to lie to your face without lying in the sence of the word only becuase u miss understood ....................fuck the lawyer shit say what u mean in a way a 5 year can understand it ..............

you could keep the 2 1000w's and make a couple cool tubes for under $50 and use a duct booster (maybe $20) with a Y connector to draw the heat from both tubes. cheaper than getting another hood. just my 2 cents

and your graph test

take a brand new bulb .............i mean out of the box take the measurement

use the same bulb for 10,000 hours take it again ..............and then one with the boost on at that time
...................u should see what i am talking about with own eyes

justugh said:

apollo and ipower are dimable ballast (i used myself ) but if u mess with the dimmer on it and change it passed 100% u are messing with the light bulb and the lightwaves it makes ..............

if he gets a select a watt one ;like i linked he can use 400/600/1000 w lights bulbs in the same ballast unit ........so he can keep it for a longer amount of time and get more out of the investment

Click to expand...

So with the one you linked you can use say a 600 watt bulb and it'll run at 100% making it not damage itself, correct?

rekoj0916 said:

So with the one you linked you can use say a 600 watt bulb and it'll run at 100% making it not damage itself, correct?

Click to expand...

the one i linked

u can use a 400 or a 600 or a 1000

it is a select a watt digital ballast...............100% power all the time on what ever what u pick

i have learned much from your guys banter.

greatly appreciated