Digital Ballast vs. Mag Ballast

[too old]

Good day all - I have recently purchased two digital ballasts, a 600w and a 1000w. Both have 120v - 240v capability, both are able to run at 50%, 75%, and 100% wattage.

While talking with my hydro guy, he mentioned that on the older mag style ballasts, you could hook up multiple lamps to one ballast as long as total wattage remained at or less than rated wattage, say, 4 250w bulbs or 3 300w bulbs on a 1000w ballast. Of course, the question came up, can you do the same with a digital.

Could a person hook up two 300w bulbs to the 600w ballast (at 100% power) or 4 250w bulbs to the 1000w ballast?

Has anyone had any experience doing this, good or bad? Any opinions as to the consequences?

Thanks for any info.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I would wonder how your hydro guy managed to fire multiple bulbs at initial startup.

They make flip-flops that allow you to run (for example) two 600-watt bulbs on a 600-watt ballast - but not at the same time.

 

[too old]

So, if I follow what you are saying, it is not possible to fire two 500w bulbs on a 1000w mag/coil ballast?

 

[TorturedSoul]

I just don't know, man. But the biggest effort that a ballast expends is the initial firing, I think. The voltage required to fire a bulb is quite high (3000v-5000v if I remember correctly) and draws more than when it is actually already running. So even if the ballast can support running multiple bulbs, I would be somewhat leery of its ability to fire them - at least fire them safely.

Which is not to say that they can't do it, or even that they can't do it safely. After all, I'm a brain surgeon, not an electrician (lol). But as I get older, the thought of burning my house down gives me more pause than it did years ago.

It might depend on the quality of the components that make up the C&C ballast. I've seen some that hummed worse and got hotter than average even when they were new (and one that sounded like it was delaminated).

I wouldn't try it with an electronic ("digital") ballast. At least with a C&C if something goes bad you can visit the local electrical store and pick up a new component for a few bucks. And I wouldn't try it unless you were going to be there both for the initial experiment and for several days afterwards. (Actually, I wouldn't try it at all, lol, but you know what I mean.)

With cheaper HID ballast kits going for under $75, complete elcheapo HPS setups going for as low as $119, and even better ones being "relatively" cheap (have seen 400-watt Lumateks advertised for as low as $120something new), the extra piece of mind might make it worth buying another setup.

If you do decide to experiment, please report your findings be they good or bad. And be safe.

EDIT: You might stop by PitViper's grow journal thread and ask him. He's got a lot of electrical knowledge if I'm not mistaken.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Forgot to mention that Sunpulse makes a product ("The Splitter") that will allow you to drive two 600-watt bulbs off of one 1000-watt C&C HPS ballast. They warn to only use Sunpulse bulbs with it. I don't know if that's a true requirement or whether they'd just like to sell you two of their bulbs. I have read that when this device is used, the two 600-watt bulbs produce less illumination than one 1000-watt one would produce, but I have not been able to verify that statement. At a guess, it's probably just a device that wires the bulbs in series with a resistor on each. I don't really know.

Looks like they run $50-$80 and require a 1000-watt C&C ballast. If a person already has a 1000-watt C&C ballast, it might be worth considering. If the slate is clean, I'd just buy two 600-watt dimmable Lumateks, lol. Costs more but you end up with the full output of both 600-watt bulbs. (They make dual ballasts too, but I'd worry that there might one day be a problem and I'd have to do without both lights while the ballast was being repaired.)

 

[too old]

Hey thanks TorturedSoul. Always good to get more than one opinion.

This all started because the new digitals have that dimming feature. Talking it through, we weren't sure if two 600w wired in series (essentially 50% times 2) would be the equivalent of one 600w at 100%. But now that you mentioned the striking voltage, I seem to recall something along the lines of high peak voltages being well past running voltage.

Maybe just this once I'll ignore my signature and let someone else try it.

Thanks again.

 

[growingold]

I believe there would be a lag in firing once 1 bulb would be up the other bulb would fire this way your not firing at the same time seems i read this somewhere .I am wondering if anyone has used the splitter I have a urge to check it out .My only concern is I wouldnt have a true 600 watt per bulb and might compromise the grow

 

[lkkaig]

im trying to figure out wat kind of hid lamps do i need to grow multiple plants at the same time how many watts and so forth

 

[fish4250]

I just don't know, man. But the biggest effort that a ballast expends is the initial firing, I think. The voltage required to fire a bulb is quite high (3000v-5000v if I remember correctly) and draws more than when it is actually already running. So even if the ballast can support running multiple bulbs, I would be somewhat leery of its ability to fire them - at least fire them safely.

Which is not to say that they can't do it, or even that they can't do it safely. After all, I'm a brain surgeon, not an electrician (lol). But as I get older, the thought of burning my house down gives me more pause than it did years ago.

It might depend on the quality of the components that make up the C&C ballast. I've seen some that hummed worse and got hotter than average even when they were new (and one that sounded like it was delaminated).

I wouldn't try it with an electronic ("digital") ballast. At least with a C&C if something goes bad you can visit the local electrical store and pick up a new component for a few bucks. And I wouldn't try it unless you were going to be there both for the initial experiment and for several days afterwards. (Actually, I wouldn't try it at all, lol, but you know what I mean.)

With cheaper HID ballast kits going for under $75, complete elcheapo HPS setups going for as low as $119, and even better ones being "relatively" cheap (have seen 400-watt Lumateks advertised for as low as $120something new), the extra piece of mind might make it worth buying another setup.

If you do decide to experiment, please report your findings be they good or bad. And be safe.

EDIT: You might stop by PitViper's grow journal thread and ask him. He's got a lot of electrical knowledge if I'm not mistaken.

i got a 400mh/hps digital for $170.00 made in china, scares me

 

[dank937]

As long as the total lighting load is the equivalent to the output wattage of the ballast you will be fine. No different or additional capacitor or ignitor should be required.

 

[mahee]

safety first. dont need to start a fire and burn shit down

 

[HydroLogic]

Good day all - I have recently purchased two digital ballasts, a 600w and a 1000w. Both have 120v - 240v capability, both are able to run at 50%, 75%, and 100% wattage.

While talking with my hydro guy, he mentioned that on the older mag style ballasts, you could hook up multiple lamps to one ballast as long as total wattage remained at or less than rated wattage, say, 4 250w bulbs or 3 300w bulbs on a 1000w ballast. Of course, the question came up, can you do the same with a digital.

Could a person hook up two 300w bulbs to the 600w ballast (at 100% power) or 4 250w bulbs to the 1000w ballast?

Has anyone had any experience doing this, good or bad? Any opinions as to the consequences?

Thanks for any info.

You can't do this with just the ballast, you'll have to get a controller unit like a powerbox to control mulit bulbs.

 

[o2much4me]

Any POWERBOX users out there? Happy w/ Them?

 

[bigjimhp]

I have used splitter and didn't get same production as a 1000w would have produced

 

[Lemonflex]

I have never tried magnetic ballast, but for my first indoor grow I think i'm going to go with a digital dimmable setup. For what I have read mag ballast do produce lesser output that digi ballast do