Magnetic vs Digital Ballasts.

I started out trying to decide if I wanted a 600w digital vs magnetic. Ive been thinking on it for a week, and I thought I had decided digital. Then, being me, I ran through a list of pros and cons, and did a review of what is known for both of them. I realized I had written a lot, and so I thought I would share it with the forum.

Digitals COULD save you 5-10% energy, add 5% light, and reduce heat and noise. Im not sure if that is true, but we will accept it at face value for this post.

Im comparing 400 watters because most beginners use 400w first, and they are most likely to need someone to talk to them about how lights work. Things that are true for 400w's are more than likely true for other wattages one would assume.

If you DIY, a 400w ballast will be about 50 bucks. A prebuilt 400w magnetic light is about 120 bucks, and a 400w digital is 220, thats with reflectors ect.

100 dollar premium for digital.

These aren't arent, they are made for a single purpose, lighting up our rooms. Do we care if its the newest technology? I don't. So I am looking at it in a subjective way. Is the +'s of the digital worth 100 dollars, lets see.

Cost/Efficiency
Efficiency to me is how much light I get for 1$. Without going into the math part of it too deeply. A KWH(1000 watts of energy) costs about 10 cents from the power company. 400w magnetics use about 480w of energy to operate, so about 6000 watts a day, that 60 cents. 60(cents) x 30(days) = 18.00.
So, it costs about 20 bucks to run a 400w magnetic hps for the month. 5 percent of 20 dollars is 1 dollar. You will take about 100 months, lets say 8 years, to recoup your 100 dollars. I doubt the digital ballast would last that long, or that if you are still growing in 8 years you wont have moved up. Even if you add in the 5% increase in light, you are still going to use the ballast for 5 years or so before you break even. Even though it flies against what most of you would agree with, the very clear winner here is Magnetic.

Winner: Magnetic

Reliability
I don't think anyone argues that digital is more reliable than magnetic. It is simply a given. Kind of like a rock is harder than a piece of foam, noone who isn't retarded is going to argue that. Time has proven Magnetic reliability.

Winner: Magnetic

Heat
If you have a horrible time keeping your temps right, and you keep your ballast in your grow, then a digital could help you some. How much? Well, not as much as you might think, maybe 5% of total heat output. Sure the ballast is cooler, but the light is putting out 5% more, and thus will be hotter. 5% less energy is being used though, so you will have a net 5% less heat. If you have your ballasts remotely installed there is no benefit to the digital heatwise. The bulb is still hot, and possibly hotter using the digital due to more light being produced at the bulb. I have never noticed my 400w magnetic being a heat issue, but I have proper ventilation. That being said.

Winner: Digital

Noise
Any of you who have used a magnetic ballast, know the sound of it. However, just how loud is it? 2 feet from my 400w hps ballast with the door closed, I cannot hear it at all. Uninsulated walls, listening for it, and I cannot hear my grow at all. In fact, my air pump, exhaust fan, and my circulation fan are all louder than my magnetic ballast. Will you ever have your magnetic ballast running without your fans on? I really think the noise is a non issue, but the digitals win this.

Winner: Digital

Digital issues I didn't mention:
Some might have RF issues. IE: Maybe your TV/Radio or your Neighbors wont work. Its like broadcasting a radio signal that could cause a security concern.

Magnetic issues I didn't mention:
Heavy
Possible flickering. Ive never noticed this honestly, and I have looked for it.

Conclusion:
I believe I have changed my own mind about buying a digital. There is no difference in yields or quality of the crop, if your light works properly. The most important things to me are reliability and cost(both purchase and operating costs) I think I have shown that the efficiency(in dollars) of the digital ballast is mostly word play, and until the costs come down and the reliability comes up that they are not the right choice to make for most people. That hundred dollars from the initial purchase could easily be applied towards CO2, a nice inline fan, the electric bill, getting better meters/nutrients, or any number of grow items that may actually make a difference in how good your grow is. You wouldn't give the electric company 100 dollars cash today to lower your bill 2 dollars a month for the next 4-5 years, why would you give it to a digital ballast company? So, for the foreseeable future, in my opinion, Magnetic ballasts are the sweet spot in ballasts.

Overall winner:
Magnetic

+rep cause your head didnt explode

LOL, it didn't, but just barely. It was a lot of information and I had to put it down on paper to truly appreciate it. Thanks for the rep!

I bought a used magnetic ballast 400 watt hps that someone had been using about 5 years. I have used it another 3 years after that. One day, the light didn't come on. I took the ballast apart, removed the capacitor and ignitor, went to the lighting parts store, purchased the replacement parts ($47.00) came home. installed the new parts. The whole process took about 2 hours and it is like brand new again. The power supply rarely goes bad and the shop where I bought the parts said that I could bring in the ballast next time and they would test everything for me for free. You can't do that with those expensive digital ballasts. I keep the ballast outside the flowering room as it does generate a little heat and have never heard it make any noise.

Really good evaluation

The 5% light output is really the only thing solid state has going for it in my mind. I dunno about cooler, though they very well could be. My digital ballast seems to get as hot as my magnetic one.

Something not mentioned, you can't run CMH on digital ballasts.

Edit: In fact, not sure how much variation there would be model to model, but I just checked my magnetic ballast surface temp and it's 109.5 f. I'll edit this again and add my digital ballast surface temp tonight when it kicks on

Edit 2: 122.5 f for the digital ballast. Different rooms though, and different brands, so dunno what you draw from that...

ibought a digital 600w and it blew after a year

I don't read anyone having issues with their magnetic ballasts anywhere, but I do see a LOT of digital ballast issues, even from the 'good' brands. 110 degrees is barely hotter than the human body. I think the heat produced by a single ballast is negligible and only really makes a difference in a grow that has 5k watts or something equally overkill.

As far as the economy, it reminds me of people buying Prius's because gas is expensive. Yes, the Prius is obviously more gas efficient, and it sounds awesome - BUT:

If you drive 11k miles a year, and you get (its actually more like 37 on highway) 30 mpg with a regular 15k dollar car, say a Hyundai Accent. In 10 years, you will have used about 3500 gallons in gas (in something like 110k miles) Gas is under 3 bucks here, and has only been above $3 like for a year in the last 10. So lets just round it off to $10k in gas. So 25k dollars you spent for a driving 10 years, gas and car.

Hyundai Accent: 23 cents a mile


So, The Prius will be around 25k dollars to buy, and it gets about 50 mpg(its really more like 45 at best). So in 10 years/110k miles you will have spent about $6500 in gas.

Toyota Prius: 29 cents a mile

Basically the Toyota Prius is going to cost you 6500 more, and that's not counting interest on the payments - since your car payment normally has interest on his, and your gas bill doesnt, it could be more like 10-15k more based on that. And its not like the Prius is a nicer car or anything.

Even though one is obviously more efficient with energy, it is obviously not cost effective. Same deal with ballasts.

Magnetic for ever - just a huge inductance that will LAST for ever - no fragile solid state chips that burn out in a year or so.

Did we forget that digital offers the ability to run MH as well ass HPS. One light setup for veg and flower. Not saying this takes the cake but for some its a money saver for confined spaces.

there are mag. that allow you to switch...I was looking for info on this as i started with a sun systems 10-1000w hps that is now 12yo n still works good. It was time 2 buy more lights and I started using the galaxy 600w set-ups the first year they were out. The first one blew in about a year and blew 2 bulbs also!! Pain in the ass that was!! They gave me a new one and since then they have fixed the probs. I have bought 4 more since then with no probs at all. I was flip floping @ on the last 1 thinking I just need more light and dont want to spend alot. The price diff. for me is @ $50......IDK what to think...Ive got to make a order for 4 more and not sure best way to go?? Anyone with thoughts please reply!!

I just started my first grow this year. I purchased a 250w digital ballast and it stopped working within 2 days. Took it back for replacement under warranty and the new one pooped out in less than a week. I'm on my 3rd ballast and it's lasted over a month now, but I'm not very confident in these things.

KrAzY80 said:

Did we forget that digital offers the ability to run MH as well ass HPS. One light setup for veg and flower. Not saying this takes the cake but for some its a money saver for confined spaces.

Click to expand...

Ditto That. That was one of the reason i went digital. The magnetic switchable ballast cost as much as the digital, so I went digital.

midwestfarmer said:

Ditto That. That was one of the reason i went digital. The magnetic switchable ballast cost as much as the digital, so I went digital.

Click to expand...

Not quite. I got a 1000watt switchable ballast for $150. For a 1000watt digital ballast we're talking almost double that at $300.

i have seperate mh ballasts, i just bought a 600 watt ballast for 90 with shipping included. i could buy a 150dollar generic 600 digital ballast but it it probably wouldnt last a week. even the lumateks have a high failure rate compared go magnetics.

KrAzY80 said:

Did we forget that digital offers the ability to run MH as well ass HPS. One light setup for veg and flower. Not saying this takes the cake but for some its a money saver for confined spaces.

Click to expand...

And of course you can get MH bulbs that are compatible with a HPS (cheaper magnetic) ballast - a cheaper solution than a switchable digital ballast.

I would think that when most people move up to a 600w that they probably have clones and a clone chamber, I don't ever veg and flower in the same place. If I had not found the 600w magnetic shipped for under 100 bucks, I would of just went with a ballast kit and made my own (about 70 bucks shipped) Its worth 20 bucks for me to have the proper case.

Also, I went and checked my magnetic ballast, I can put my hand right on the power supply and its not even hot. Its warm, but I could hold it in my hand forever and it wouldn't burn me. I think the heat produced by it (a 400) is negligible, and thats without a fan blowing on it. I bet if I put a computer heatsink on it it would be cool to the touch. Also, you ever notice that a lot of digitals have fans on them? If digitals dont get hot, whats the point in having a fan? My 400w hps magnetic is about as hot as my air pump(barely warm).

A 400w conversion bulb for MH is only like 35bucks, if you really wanted one. A 600W mh conversion is like 75-90. Though a MH 600w only puts out like 50,000 lumens vs your 90-95k hps bulb. I dont see any reason if you want to veg with HID not to just use the HPS, Im sure the intensity makes up for the lack of spectrum at least most of the way. I find that cool white cfls work well for me, and I have about 25 400w mhs sitting in my shed not being used. I just dont see having to deal with a bunch of heat for some plants that I only want to be 12 inches tall anyway, I could just veg them under the hps for a week if I really wanted.

only brand of digital I've used is lumitek----both 600 and 1K. I Like the option of the adjustable output for different wattage bulbs---had some problems at first with the 1Ks-----but they have a 5 year warranty (3 full, 2 prorated).

There is a noticeable difference in heat reduction from the mag type-----not to mention way lighter.

My preference right now.

A~~

I dont generally stand around holding my ballast, so weight doesn't really matter to me. It might to some, however. As far as heat, its such a small difference even in your cab, if you keep your ballasts external you would never notice a difference. In a technical sort of way Digitals sound WAY better, but in real life, its not true. Kind of like my comparing the Prius to a regular car. Considering a 600w digital only saves a couple bucks a month in electricity, if you believe the manufacturer, efficiency isnt a real benefit since the ballast probably wont last long enough to make you back your money. 5 years, and that would just be breaking even. Wouldn't you of rather had another 100 dollar fan, good ph tester, air cooled hood or something useful during those 5 years?

As soon as digital ballasts are the same price and as reliable as magnetics, Ill be happy to jump onto the ship, until then, I don't think they are worth it.

Yea, I don't stand around holding my ballasts either-----so that's just a small point.

I don't use "cabs"----instead a 22' x 22' garage with 4x1Ks for flowering and 2 x1Ks for veg ( floros and T5s for clones).

Already have good testers, air cooled light tubes, movers, 8" inline ozone gererator, and inline blowers and fans.

I agreed about the price right now----too high for most folks.

"my opinions and beliefs don't matter as much as my right to have them and your right to have yours"--A. Einstein.

A~~

Hmm...at first I thought proponents of magnetic ballasts were a bunch of luddites. I was sure I would only buy a digital ballast. Now, I am not so sure. Still, the effortless switch from MH to HPS is strongly compelling.