galaxy ballasts

[spacecadet]

well guys to let you know my galaxys just died on me 2 weeks from harvest and it just f-ing died now i am f-ing pissed you guy can take all this digital crap an shove it i am going back to the old schoool ballast lest i can fix them my self dam thing will fire the bulb up for a split secound and go out so lest the bulb is still good lol

 

[Brother Bear]

green 600w - running almost two years now no prob
lights 600w conversion bulbs (sunmaster i think ) solar max HPS​

 

[spacecadet]

ok sorry for my mindless rant but i kept playing with the socket and making the bulb come on and off and it didnt help so i walk a way from it and it fianly fire up and is running fine as of now, but not sure how long it will last so i quess i am going to have to look it to getting another ballast but cant do any ting till friday but has any one had any proublem like this ? i hate to have to try and send it back but if i have to get a new one i am going back to the old mag ballast

 

[pimpjuice]

anyone running one at 240 volts with the mvp cord???

that's how I'm running them.

 

[HeadyPete]

spacecadet, try a different brand bulb before you return that ballast or try that bulb in the mag ballast. Many times the bulb gets old and won't fire. You should have a cheap backup bulb on hand in case your main one dies.

Good luck in fixing your problem.

 

[spacecadet]

hey headypete my bulb is only 2 mount old i am going to try and see if i can find a 600 watts bulb tommor but i dont think i wil be able to find one in town only seen 400 watter i notice it will now fire up when it wants to and go out for no reason and come back on and if it is the bulb i will more than likely hav to order a new bulb and thats will take at lest a week to get here and i am about 2 maybe 3 weeks from harvest i need a new bulb today not a week from now only shot i got is there hyrdo store in the nxt town but i hate dealing with them they are really strange and i get bad vibe when i have gone there. ass hole got a loaded ar-15 on the wall with a lazer scope and thy will not tlk to you they just sit there playing veido games and if you buy some thing they never have change all ways ask you to go some where to make change how the hell do you run a store and cant even beak a 20 dolor bill and thats if there open i drove 60 miles a few times to find them closed they have no phone number to even call and see if they wil be open or have a 600 watt bulb or ballast i stock and i am willing to bet if they are open they will not have neither

 

[RottenDawg]

cool feedback rotten dog.the more positives the more i lean towards getting one.what type of bulbs have you used in them?

I'm pretty sure I grabbed the Hortilux last time. I'll tell 'ya though, I have a generic 600W HPS plant bulb in my 2nd Hut and it's work'n just as good. So I truly do not believe the manufacturer of the bulb makes a whole hell of a lot of difference. They all seem to work OK for me. Peace...........RD

 

[HeadyPete]

The better plant specific bulbs tailor the chems in the bulb to provide optimum spectrum for plants, while cheap generics are just about making orange light for illumination. Yield is the difference, but I am not impressed with Eye's and will stick to the Osrams or look into those Ushio bulbs.

sorry bout your nightmare spacecadet....seriously, buy 2 bulbs so you have a backup. 600s are the hardest to find, it's too bad, 600 is the most efficient wattage at turning electricity to light.

That AR would freak me out, not into guns myself....not with my weed anyway....sounds like the wild wild west where you are.

 

[Guest 18340]

In the October issue of Maximum Yield magazine (pg.57) theirs an interesting ad/article written by the makers of the Hortilux bulbs.
They test traditional and electronic ballasts and evaluate their performance.
Heres' a quote from the article: "In summary, ourour tests showed that the current electronic ballasts seem to operate lamps at about the same as traditional magnetic ballasts".

 

[HeadyPete]

I think the key there is "current" ballasts. A lot of the earlier ones people bought had trouble firing some bulbs and Eye was one of those trouble bulbs.

I'd like to see an independent test of bulbs....don't really expect the manufacturer to admit there are problems with their product.....

 

[Guest 18340]

Yeah, H'Pete, the article definately pointed out that the newer crop of electronic ballasts are far more reliable now than when they first came out.
Interesting enough, the article goes on to say that all the electronic ballasts they tested had 0 failure.
I wish i could post the article.
Maybe after some turkey and a spliff i'll sit down and type out the whole thing.

 

[HeadyPete]

cool, I looked at MY online but couldn't find the article you mention.

 

[petemoss]

HeadyPete,
I just found it:
http://www.maximumyield.com/assets/pdf/back_issues/usa/MY_US_Oct08_c.pdf

 

[Guest 18340]

Good looking out petemoss!!!

 

[pezoholic]

thats all marketing in that ad because the eyes do have a problem in electronic ballasts....I use there stuff tho in my Digi Global Greenhouse 400w ballast

 

[Guest 18340]

Dude, the ad is a comparrison beteween e-ballasts and mag-ballasts, not about the bulb.
Hortilux doesnt make a ballast, or at least they're not hawking one, and nowhere in the article does it hype their bulbs, so where do you see marketing? I see a pretty straight forward comparrison between e ballasts and mag ballasts, done by a respected company.

 

[willbeHigh]

hey headypete my bulb is only 2 mount old i am going to try and see if i can find a 600 watts bulb tommor but i dont think i wil be able to find one in town only seen 400 watter i notice it will now fire up when it wants to and go out for no reason and come back on and if it is the bulb i will more than likely hav to order a new bulb and thats will take at lest a week to get here and i am about 2 maybe 3 weeks from harvest i need a new bulb today not a week from now only shot i got is there hyrdo store in the nxt town but i hate dealing with them they are really strange and i get bad vibe when i have gone there. ass hole got a loaded ar-15 on the wall with a lazer scope and thy will not tlk to you they just sit there playing veido games and if you buy some thing they never have change all ways ask you to go some where to make change how the hell do you run a store and cant even beak a 20 dolor bill and thats if there open i drove 60 miles a few times to find them closed they have no phone number to even call and see if they wil be open or have a 600 watt bulb or ballast i stock and i am willing to bet if they are open they will not have neither

Hey man order it on line and have overnight shipped to you.It cost for that kind of shipping but if you have to have it you can get it.Peace

 

[willbeHigh]

I have been running two 400watt galaxy for 1-1/2 years now and no problems.They are doing everything they said they would do.Good ballest.The guy at a hydro shop I shop at said that there's only a difference in price between lumatek and galaxy.I have had only the 400 watt ballest and they work great for me. Peace

 

[ItsGrowTime]

I've been having the same problem's, I am very close to the people that run my hydrostore... Last time I worked there for a couple days I took the Initiative to call in and ask around about this problem..

In the conversation they had said to me that in some cases it's the ballasts, but I let them know that my Lumatek's were not having this issue, it was only one of my Galaxy's, and they had told me to just trade it in for a different new ballast.. they also said that these ballasts are pushing the bulbs a lot harder than the Magnetics are..

They recomended a different bulb and ever since I haven't had a problem,

It's a German manufactured Bulb, company name is: {USHIO -" Hilux Gro , "}

never any problems since using the German product, they always seem to have their shit together right...

Good luck all..

Bandit

Ive been looking at adding another 600w digi and I think Ive settled on a Galaxy. I just looked up those USHIO bulbs and *OMG* are they expensive. $100 and up for a single 600w HPS?!!? That's crazy. I can't see how they can be truly worth 30 bucks more than a Hortilux or Solarmax. Anybody else tried these out? The price just seems whacked.

 

[RaptorJesus]

i just had my 600w galaxy ballast crap out on me only after 6 months of use... hopefully its just a fluke because all i've heard is good things about them, and for the 6 months i had it i was quite pleased.
now i just gotta get to the hydro store and get the warranty replacement, plants are over a month into veg and they're NOT liking the CFL's i'm stuck with temporarily