Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone else with flip flops has tried using them with next-gen ballasts. I finally got around to hooking up my Horti-Controls to my 400-600watt switchable next-gens and when the timer switches them over they throw trouble code 4 and have to be unplugged and reset. I assume its the self diagnostic function that prevents them from flipping. I kind of feel like a moron for buying ballasts with cool looking fans and blinking leds when my blue lumatecs have been 5 years strong,the purples going on 3, and 2 years on my galaxys. I really liked the fact they can safely run between 90-260 volts, and for 10 bucks more I could switch between 400-600watts, although I forgot to switch one and ran a 400 watt light with the ballast on the 600 watt setting. This actually makes me curious if any 600 watt ballast will fire a 400 light. Anyway I these next-gens were supposed to replace my blue lumatecs so I can hook up my Sentinel CHHC4 becuase I assume the blue ones have no RF shielding in the cord and will interfere with the accuracy of the CO2 sensor. Anyone know about this?
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Horti-Controls don't work with Next-Gen ballasts
- Thread starter webehi
- Start date
I don't think any digital ballast will work on a standard flip, the new flipbox is supposed to, but it only handles one ballast/2 lights. Basically it has to turn the ballast off for a minute, then turnit back on for the second light. Digitals don't do a hot re-strike of the arc.
horticontrol claims theirs works with magnetic and digital. My galaxy flips right over and my lumatec cools off for a couple minutes and then flips. I really like that about the lumatec, when the power is interrupted for even a few milliseconds it prevents power from being reapplied for several minutes. I guess that is what the flipbox does for you. I really liked that those were individual units but horticontrol has been around a little while and what I have heard has been good. I am not flipping 2 rooms just using them like a light mover to cover more area, so they are going to be flipping 6 times a day. We'll see how it goes.
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I should probably buy all galaxys anyway after dropping 800 bucks on a case of hortiluxes. I might get lucky but with 7 lumatecs running hortilux bulbs the odds are stacked against me. On top of that I have always hated that fucking obnoxious purple. They have been super reliable for 5 plus years but I have had my galaxys for 2 and have not heard of many problems from other users.
