MrShpongle
Member
I've been running a 600 C.A.P. magnetic ballast in my flower room w/ a 90 day old bulb. Yesterday I picked up a used Lumatek 750 watt HPS ballast and swapped it in for the C.A.P. (I dialed down the output to 600 watts first). Just for giggles, I measured the output from the bulb with my light meter under identical conditions so I could see if there was a significant difference between the two ballasts. What followed shocked me:
C.A.P. 320
Lumatek 600
That is a *huge* difference in output, but what was even stranger was that to my naked eye, there was absolutely no difference in brightness or spectrum. The C.A.P. is only a year old, so I can't believe the capacitor has started to die. I'm going to grab another 600 watt magnetic ballast for further testing.
What I'm more interested in is the inability to see the difference. I've used dimmable ballasts before, and it is very obvious when you dial down the wattage, so a 100% increase in output should be easy to see. Since my light meter measures lux, not PAR, it should theoretically be seeing things the same way my eyes see it, although not necessarily the same as my plants.
Thoughts? Theories?
C.A.P. 320
Lumatek 600
That is a *huge* difference in output, but what was even stranger was that to my naked eye, there was absolutely no difference in brightness or spectrum. The C.A.P. is only a year old, so I can't believe the capacitor has started to die. I'm going to grab another 600 watt magnetic ballast for further testing.
What I'm more interested in is the inability to see the difference. I've used dimmable ballasts before, and it is very obvious when you dial down the wattage, so a 100% increase in output should be easy to see. Since my light meter measures lux, not PAR, it should theoretically be seeing things the same way my eyes see it, although not necessarily the same as my plants.
Thoughts? Theories?
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