Anybody run 1000w Dual Arc bulbs on dimmable 1000w digi ballasts on the 600w setting?

[ItsGrowTime]

Im liking the look of dual arc 1000w bulbs (600w hps/400mh) as a lighting upgrade. The thing is my 1000w ballasts are Galaxy select-a-watt digitals (great ballast) and for the first few weeks of flower I keep them on the 600w setting, which is fine with regular HPS 1000w bulbs installed. So can I safely run these dual arc 1000w bulbs on 600w setting? I assume it would run the HPS side at 400w and the MH side at 200-250w. Just want to see if anybody has run this before I drop $140x4 on the bulbs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[growshopfrank]

the standard lighting rep said that dual arc lamps are not recommended for use with digital ballasts

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Thx for the input. The seller of course says its ok to do but life of the bulb will be reduced by some undetermined period. Hell, if they'll run at full efficiency for a crop or two then they'll definitely be worth the cost regardless. Im mostly concerned with physically damaging the bulb somehow.

 

[rrog]

I heard the dual arc are problematic. That was a couple years ago. Personally, I like the switch-able ballasts. That way you just change out the bulb

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Problematic how? Things probably improved a lot over the last couple years. I want the extra blue spectrum during flower, not entire MH bulbs. That solution just wouldnt work for my vertical lighting tree setup.

I may just buy one for testing purposes and leave the rest of the lights on regular Solarmax HPS. That seems like a good way to approach this since I can't get anything definitive about it from the multiple sources Ive asked.

 

[rrog]

If you're looking for blue during flower, I'd love your opinion in my thread:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=222854

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Distributor says its probably not a good idea. Bah. I guess I could just run it at 1000w instead of dialing back the wattage early on and just raise the light higher than normal. No mention of digi problems fwiw.

 

[don johnson]

140$ per bulb?
Ive been seeing some plantmax brand coming up and theyre like 80$ for a 1000w dual arc
http://www.afgrowsupply.com/plantmax-1000w-dual-arc-grow-lamp/

 

[ItsGrowTime]

For Solarmax bulbs, yes $140 and up. I loooooove Solarmax bulbs. The best bulbs on the market imho.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

update: Ive been running a dual arc Solarmax 1000w on the digi and it's been great so far. It does work fine on a lower wattage setting than 1000w but it's been so great that Ive been overdriving it (turbo switch) and the plants are loving it. Nice bulb and works fine on a digi.

 

[Doc420]

I heard the dual arc are problematic. That was a couple years ago. Personally, I like the switch-able ballasts. That way you just change out the bulb

They are still problematic.
The output is really bad.
It is more a toy.
It looks like the shit.