Are digital ballasts better than magnetic ballasts?

[Funky_Fred]

Unsure about whether I should drop the extra $400 to get the lumatek digital ballasts instead of the magnetics. I know they are silent which is a plus but do they really provide 30% more of an output comparing a 600w close to a magnetic 1000w?

If so, how? can anyone explain?

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[Green lung]

If you already have a mag than I would keep it but if you need to get a ballast anyways go ahead and get a digi. They are better BUT not that much better

 

[the gnome]

I'm winding down on my 1st indoor grow and went with the 1000w digi ballasts.
I paid under $200 for mine, they don't have the dimmer switch which is really nice because I'm told I can use a 600w bulb and for reasons stated above.
they work fine and I like having a ballast i can hook up to 110 or 220 and
the same goes for the bulbs, MH or HPS.
a $300-$400 price on the new ones is way too much imo.
mine is a generic I purchased in BC which for all I know might be what they're selling and anodizing the aluminum casing purple and tossing a $10 dimmer chip on the $400 digi's?

price aside theres pros and cons with both with the biggeis is
if you have trouble with the magnetics you can easily fix them
with the digi theres nothing you can do other than checking the power cords

 

[VIKINGtrich]

I think they (digi's) are gettiing better and better every day....I bought a new Nextgen 600, when I got it home it didn't work, so they replaced it, BUT, I lost all confidence in digi's, so I stuck with what i know works..im weird like that....So, I still run all mags, about to buy a new 1000 too..... One day I will take the plunge and start buying digi's...still wig me out a little, and the price tags are a bit to much still.....

 

[growshopfrank]

Digital ballasts are nice but I recommend avoiding ones with built in fans as the fans seem to be a weak link. the fan fails and the ballast thermal switch shuts it off (hopefully) usually confusing the hell out of the grower. If you rig a fan to cool the ballasts it will help avoid issues this goes for digital as well as old school mags. the one real advantage that Ive seen for the digital is that if you have a long run between ballast and lamp they are better.

 

[fatigues]

Well, first of all, they're definitely not going to put out 30% more per light.

I would agree that the above makes a great deal of sense and would appear to be a commonsense proposition that I would be inclined to agree with.

The problem is, "commonsense" or not, the opinion does not accord with the evidence.

The link here is to Raphael's final entry in his grow journal with his pics. It was the same strain, same nutes, same bulbs, same wattage same grow stages, same flip dates.

The difference was a digital ballast on the left of the scrog and a magnetic ballast on the right of the scrog. As matters turned out, there was even a failure to thrive on one of the clones (under the digital ballast) such that the scrog on the left (digi) had three plants while the scrog on the right (mag) had four plants.

The digital ballast trounced the magnetic ballast perceptibly during both growth and harvest. The harvest under the digital ballast was 18 ounces, and the magnetic harvest was only 14oz.

Read the thread, look at the pics and reassess your opinion based on the evidence in Raphael's grow. While it is not conclusive, it is highly persuasive evidence.

End result: digital ballast all the way. It matters. And yes, it's a quantitatively better result and yes a digital ballast DOES indeed appear to put out significantly more light.

Not incidentally, 30% more bud, too.

 

[rogerw]

I have both and as stated in above posts the pro's and con's. All I will say is regardless put a good fan on either [ballast ] . I have 5 digi and 4 mags. out of the digis I have sent 2 back for failure . Sure they replaced them but still down time and $$ for shipping. Thats how I learned the hard way put a good sized fan on the ballast's . I have 2 fan cooled and 3 non. 1 400 and 1 600 failed both from diff dealers and makes 1 fan and 1 no fan.

 

[simos]

Yes, IMO, they are better. All the kinks aren't worked out yet, but they do have some serious advantages:
Quieter
Cooler
More efficient
Higher lumen output
Dimmable

They also have some disadvantages:
Don't work with all bulbs, and often burn through bulbs quicker because they cycle so many more times per second
If run in large numbers they throw off a lot of RF interference

There aren't too many differences between the different companies because some of the important internal components are all the same, but consensus is that Quantum, Galaxy, and the new Hydrofarm Phantom are the best.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

Other advantages...

Digis can turn on and off straight away, not have to wait for 15 minutes before re striking. If you have dicky power supply, timer issues etc, this can be very handy. A dip in the power can cause your Magnetic ballasts to spend hours trying and failing to reignite the bulb where a Digi will reignite and carry on regardless.

Digis give full power light from the word go, Magnetic take 15 mins to warm up.

Lastly, and IMO most importantly for the economics, Digis look after bulbs, producing the same as "Brand New" output for a few years. We worked out, using a Magnetic ballast, getting target 600g per M2, per 600W light, it is "worth" throwing our bulb away after each crop, the £30 cost of a new bulb is less than the weight of bud lost [valued at £5 a gram] by running HPS bulbs for a second 2 month crop under Magnetic Ballasts [flowering clones]

 

[jocat]

i run some digi's & some magnetic, digi's i have are a few years old, not one has failed, they cannot be run by a generator, newer models maybe, they push hortilux bulbs harder than magnetic's and i change bulbs every 60 days, the magnetics get new bulbs every year. they are lighter and cooler running, i dunno if i would say they increase yields..alot of little things done right has gradually brought those up...so get a light ....anylight and start...or upgrade. one of my rules has always been to spend some $ every crop on something i don't know about...iv'e learned a lot and i ain't stoppin'

 

[Haps]

I will not buy dig, ul ratings are for real. Mags are dependable, just change bulbs often to max effectiveness.
H

 

[Greenstar420]

Digis are the way to go- lumateks are nice and they have a good warrenty backing them for 5 years. I had to bring one back to swap out when they came out, but since then they have been very reliable

 

[the gnome]

I read recently here somewhere that a guy at a hydro shop said a hi pecentage of returned digi's that went belly up were hung on the wall?
I have 2 1000w digi with internal fans and 2 without.
with fans they are ALOT cooler to the touch compared to the the other two.

I think its a good practice to run a small fan on the ballasts.

 

[dunkydunk]

Magnetics are for cavemen and digitals are for astronauts. Cavemen vs. Astronauts - who wins?

 

[B. Friendly]

Yes digital are more energy efficient and put out more light by like 5%'ish

 

[eyes]

magnetics are the old dependable.although there have been some crappy ones from time to time.Most everything is made in china including most mag ballasts.If you go with a mag go with the sun 1 or sun switchable with the advance ballasts.When you buy a cheaper mag ballast the winding arent as tight and they buzz pretty loud.

If your going electronic,i have the galaxys.there pretty dependable although i had a 400 pop,smoke and shit the bed.There circuit breakers a joke on em though.I heard quite many probs with lumateks and there on there what 4th or fifth generation.Although some people swear buy em.Almost all are resin coated on the inside(they say to keep moisture and dirt off the electronics but i believe its so u cant copy there design).Either way,there going to get hot with all the resin and sealed.Blow a fan on them to keep em cool.Electronics dont like heat.I do like that they are silent.What i dont like is that they send 20000khz and cause some bulbs hum and zing.Ive had good luck with ultra sun hps no hum or zing.cap-didgi lux was going to be on my next to try list.I have some sunmaster mh conversion bulbs and on the short test didnt hum.

also,mags are very heavy.so if you like convenience,the electronics are super light and mobile.can fit a ton of em in a rubbermaid.the downside is if they shit the bed you have to runback to the store to exchange em.so my advice would be have one mag for a back up or multiple back up electronic ballasts. hope i helped.

 

[eyes]

double post

 

[generalgrievous]

Just got a eye hortilux blue 250 for the veg closet... my digi will only strike it occasionally... after switching bulbs...
have the same bulb in 1k in the flower tent on a quantum... i have a magnetic on the way to see if it's the bulb or not....

I like v8's and vacuum tube amps... now that i'm havin this issue i'm not sure why i'm using digital balasts.

Just seemed like the thing to do

 

[joe fresh]

i havent used any digi's, im still using the mags.....but must say the only REAL advantage i can see is the weight....it fukken sux carrying 10 or 20 magnetic ballasts in/out or up/down.....bassicly it just sux carrying them...lol


ive heard that one of the "faulty" composnents in digi's are the fans, ive heard that they are the first thing to go, and once the fan goes, its not long before the rest of it goes too....i was advised that if i do buy digi to look for one with out any built in fans.....


for now im staying mag, but might think about digi in the future....