first hand experiences -600/400 in 400 mode

[TribalSeeds]

I own 4 Lumatek ballasts and all the paperwork says do not use a bulb rated lower than your ballast.
It is made absolutely clear:
" you can run a 1000W dimmed to 750, but you cannot increase the power of a 750W lamp to 1000W. Do not run your lamps higher than their rated wattage. Doing so could severly damage your lamp."
In fact it lists what settings each is capable of being used on. It is clearly written that a LK250 is compatable at 150W/175W/250W MH/HPS
It also mentions the 750W setting can only power an HPS bulb. Just in case somebody missed that

 

[jm420]

"I have a 1000W bulb currently running at 480W (Lumatek 400W on Super Lumens mode)"
@ Gingerale Huh?A 1k bulb in a 400 watt ballast
With the info being handed out here I hope you have a flame defender or at least a fire extinguisher handy.

@ sea maiaden Put a 400 watt bulb in a 600 watt ballast?are you ok ? being a mentor you should Know better
Lot of bad info going around here

 

[OZZ_]

I think there is some misunderstanding, as to what Im referring to anyway.

I know some others here are talking about overdriving bulbs, that was never something I wanted to do if we could stay on topic that would be greatly appreciated.

I own 4 Lumatek ballasts and all the paperwork says do not use a bulb rated lower than your ballast.
It is made absolutely clear:

With all due respect.... just to clear things up ..... this sentence:

" you can run a 1000W dimmed to 750, but you cannot increase the power of a 750W lamp to 1000W. Do not run your lamps higher than their rated wattage. Doing so could severly damage your lamp."

does not say that you cant use a bulb that is rated lower then your ballast, its saying not to run a lower powered bulb at a higher powered setting.

Now, you may have an older lumatek ballast, and maybe those are different, Im not sure. Please see the next post for the exact instructions from the 600w lumatek dial a watt ballast, the 1000w ballast instructions are are the same - you can in fact run a lower wattage bulb in a higher powered ballst ... as long as its set to a lower powered setting.

 

[OZZ_]

"
@ sea maiaden Put a 400 watt bulb in a 600 watt ballast?are you ok ? being a mentor you should Know better
Lot of bad info going around here

You can absolutely do this, as long as its a dial a watt/dimeable, and you have it set to 400w mode.

A 600w, lumatek dial a watt ballast can run a 400w bulb, AS LONG as you have it set to 400w mode as its only putting 400w of power to the bulb at that time. Now you would of course not want to have that 400w bulb in there and then set it to 600w mode. Obviously.

These are the instructions for the 600w ballast

Operates in 4 Modes:

600 Watt SUPER LUMENS Mode:

Will run 600 Watt HPS bulb using 600 Watts of electricity.

Compatible Bulbs that can be run on 600 Watt SUPER LUMENS Mode:

600 Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS)



600 Watt Mode:

Will run 600 Watt bulb using 600 Watts of electricity.
All bulbs running on 600 Watt Mode will use 600 Watts of electricity and put out 600 watts of light. (Example: 600 Watt bulb used in 600 Watt Mode, 600 Watts used, 600 Watt Light output)

Compatible Bulbs that can be run on 600 Watt Mode:

600 Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS)



400 Watt Mode:

Will run 600 or 400 Watt bulb using 400 Watts of electricity.
All bulbs running on 400 Watt Mode will use 400 Watts of electricity and put out 400 watts of light. (Example: 600 Watt bulb used in 400 Watt Mode, 400 Watts used, 400 Watt Light output)

Compatible Bulbs that can be run on 400 Watt Mode:

400 Watt Metal Halide (MH)
400 Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
600 Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS)



300 Watt Mode:

Will run 600 or 400 Watt bulb using 300 Watts of electricity.
All bulbs running on 300 Watt Mode will use 300 Watts of electricity and put out 300 watts of light. (Example: 600 Watt bulb used in 300 Watt Mode, 300 Watts used, 300 Watt Light output)

Compatible Bulbs that can be run on 300 Watt Mode:

400 Watt Metal Halide (MH)
400 Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
600 Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS)


Sooooo .... now that this is cleared up, the question is will it be just as efficient??

I would really appreciate input from people that are running their dimeable ballasts at the lower setting, with a lower wattage bulb. Im not concerned with overdriving bulbs and is not what I was originally hoping for input on.

Thanks for the input Gingerale since you are in fact doing this on a regular basis, I appreciate your input and everyone elses as well! I just hope to not get de-railed in a debate about overdriving bulbs - which is not what I intend to do.

Anyone else actually using the dimeable feature on their ballasts regularly? Whats your experiences with them?

 

[jm420]

Great to hear you got it all cleared up ,you might wanna check these out though

Peace jm

 

[OZZ_]

Lol .... I like the wit.

The above description came directly from the manufacturer. I seriously doubt they are giving out false information about their products. They directly say its acceptable to run a 400w bulb in a 600w ballast as long as its set to 400w mode, so unless you think they are giving out wrong information about their own products....there is no debate.

Anyway, anyone that is using the dimeable feature on their ballasts regularly Ild still love to her from ya!

Gracias!

 

[SeaMaiden]

No, you don't usually "want" to do that, but I wanted to see what would happen. Since I'm a big girl and pay my own bills, I figured I have that much leeway. At this point I can talk about my experiences doing it.

"I have a 1000W bulb currently running at 480W (Lumatek 400W on Super Lumens mode)"
@ Gingerale Huh?A 1k bulb in a 400 watt ballast
With the info being handed out here I hope you have a flame defender or at least a fire extinguisher handy.

@ sea maiaden Put a 400 watt bulb in a 600 watt ballast?are you ok ? being a mentor you should Know better
Lot of bad info going around here

I understand what you and rives are saying (and yes, rives you understand what I wrote correctly, I have overdriven til death; i.e. burnout, a 400W MH bulb), but what do I do, not talk about it at all? Never relay my experiences? I wanted to see what would happen and I did. I'm not recommending it, I am simply relaying my experiences.

The bulbs burn out quickly, that I can state unequivocally.

This is like preferring to grow organically but learning by experience how to use chemical salt fertilizers. It's not a religion, it's a breadth of experience, and I can't speak to something if I have no knowledge or experience of it.

 

[rives]

The above description came directly from the manufacturer. I seriously doubt they are giving out false information about their products. They directly say its acceptable to run a 400w bulb in a 600w ballast as long as its set to 400w mode, so unless you think they are giving out wrong information about their own products....there is no debate.

That is not "overdriving", it is a designed-in, engineered feature.

I understand what you and rives are saying (and yes, rives you understand what I wrote correctly, I have overdriven til death; i.e. burnout, a 400W MH bulb), but what do I do, not talk about it at all? Never relay my experiences? I wanted to see what would happen and I did. I'm not recommending it, I am simply relaying my experiences.

The bulbs burn out quickly, that I can state unequivocally.

My concern was that there was no indication that this was either an experiment or in the past tense - from your statement, it sounded like this was an ongoing practice for you. As an industrial electrician, I've worked with hundreds and very possibly thousands of HID fixtures over several decades. The only time that I can recall seeing catastrophic failures of the lamp envelope were under these circumstances. As JM420 was pointing out, this could easily be taken as a recommendation from a mentor on here.

 

[SeaMaiden]

Duly noted and I will make an effort to better qualify my statements. I *do* appreciate that you and jm420 are concerned and took the time to point out the problems with my statements.