so i have 2 different sets of 1k watt dimmable balasts . On the cali balasts it goes 500-750-1000- and super lumens. On the 2nd set of balasts it goes 400-600-1000- and super lumens. I was planning on running all 4 at 600 dimmed down on my 1k hortilux hps bulbs. Now 750 isnt 600.. so its 750 watt equivalent? Whats the draw on power g9nna be like basically 750 watts and 600 watts actual useage? As of now i been running 2 1k hps bulbs so adding 2 more light set ups and dialing everythong to 600 and 750? I hear 600 watt is more efficient lumens at about 90k and 1k is only at 120k gove or take a lil bit. But with 750 what should i be expecting? And is that 500 option means 500 watt? Thank you for any input.
1k Watt dimmed to 600 and 750?
- Thread starter corinth
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Yes, plus however much each ballast loses due to inefficiency (in other words, converts to heat instead of light). BtW, Kill A Watt devices are dirt cheap, and would allow you to easily determine how much electricity an electrical device uses, simply by plugging the device into one (that is plugged into a working electrical outlet), turning the device on (if applicable)... and looking at the Kill A Watt's display.
A 600-watt bulb, driven at 600 watts, is more efficient than a 1,000-watt bulb that is driven at 1,000 watts. As far as the efficiencies of bulbs that are being underdriven, relative to the same bulbs being driven at their rated wattage... you would have to grab a decent light meter (presumably, a PAR meter such as the Apogee Instruments MQ-500, since any light that is not useful to plants will merely contribute to the inefficiency of the thing), along with a device to measure the bulb's actual electrical consumption (e.g., the aforementioned Kill A Watt meter).
Really has zero place in a discussion about plant lighting - because it is a non-linear measurement that gives substantially higher weight to those portions of the visible light spectrum that the human eyeball (and human brain) perceives as being brighter. Plants... have neither human eyeballs nor human brains. The lumen scale gives greater weight to green light (FFS!), lol, and plants use very little of that portion of the spectrum.
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Yea the decrease from dimming down kinda had me sketchy but now that i have to run a 750 x2 and 600 x2 im a bit more sketchy cause i wonder if im defeating the purpose of adding more lights but decreasing their wattage manually by dimming. Itd be better to buy a 600 watt balast but then again i may need to run 4k watts through those 4 hoods or maybe increase to so much etc. But now im kinda at the point where its like im getting more area coverage because ill be using 4 hoods but im using those lights at quite a bit less capacity. If the 600 doesnt cut it i may need to go higher but from what i hear anything over 600 watt hps is ok ish?
When I’ve run dimmed bulbs through my Kill-a-watt meter they read more or less exactly what the setting claimed. A 600w ballast dimmed to 400w draws about 400w, etc.
When I emailed Hortilux to ask them about dimming, they said that dimmed bulbs are inefficient, and advised ‘never dim a bulb’. There is also some shift in spectrum as the bulb is dimmed. If I remember correctly (I may not) it’s more of a factor with MH bulbs then HPS.
So basically (for example) my 600w bulb dimmed to 400w draws 400w and my power bill charges accordingly, but i’m not getting 400w worth of light as I would be with a 400w ballast.
On the other hand, when I purposely want to dim the lights to slow growth, as I often do in my veg room to because it’s overcrowded, then I don’t mind some some inefficiency. I just want it dimmed.
When I emailed Hortilux to ask them about dimming, they said that dimmed bulbs are inefficient, and advised ‘never dim a bulb’. There is also some shift in spectrum as the bulb is dimmed. If I remember correctly (I may not) it’s more of a factor with MH bulbs then HPS.
So basically (for example) my 600w bulb dimmed to 400w draws 400w and my power bill charges accordingly, but i’m not getting 400w worth of light as I would be with a 400w ballast.
On the other hand, when I purposely want to dim the lights to slow growth, as I often do in my veg room to because it’s overcrowded, then I don’t mind some some inefficiency. I just want it dimmed.
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- #5
Makes sense to me. Im just curious the difference a 600 watt compared to a 1000 watt bulbs gonna do. Ill be adding more bulbs but less wattage. Er dimmed bulbs*.
A 600w HPS bulb covers about 12 square feet well. Any more is starting to push it for optimum flowering. At 16 square feet they’ll be stretched thin. Reflectors and reflecting walls can help.
Yes. I think it's a redshift, so I never worried about it. But it's definitely true.
The only adjustable HID ballasts I've owned were (purple) Lumatek 400-watt ones. The only real issue I ever encountered with them was, when I used to run 400-watt MH bulbs at 250 watts, they sometimes failed after a while. But running 250-watt ones at 250 watts, that was fine.
Yeah, that's 1,000-watt territory. Unless you're growing autoflowering plants at 16 or more hours of light per day, of course.
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Heh temps jumping to 87 hehe i better get a dedicated fan for the hoods. It was a hot day today though but still ima blow these bulbs lol. Its weird too temp keeps climbing from 84 to 87 within seconds . Breakers didnt trip though so perdy kool. Bet i could run an ac but i probally wont need to once i get another fan in here.
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So my big challenge right now is only to get my hood temps down a bit now. Im wondering if i can use 1 6 inch ducting from my air conditioned lung room and use two 6 in 440 cfm inline fans to pull the fresh air into my hoods and out into a seperate room for 1 fan and another fan blows cool fresh air into my flower room . I have a charcoal filter that cleans out going air . It seems to work pretty good. What im worried about is will that 1 6 inch ducting be enough to supply both fans? I would think so because its only travelling 4 foot for 1? And theres 2 seperate fans pulling and pushing it through 2 seperate air ducts . Any ideas guys?
Cant really help you there. Sounds reasonable to me, though I’d go for an 8- 10” duct if it fit.
But the forum is full of people who can help - so perhaps start a thread, or just try it and see?
But the forum is full of people who can help - so perhaps start a thread, or just try it and see?
