Lumatek Digital ballast

[ÆROSPACE]

I keep emailing westcoastgrowers my question, but never get a responce so...if anyone has a 600 watt lumatek digital ballast do you know how many amps the 600 pulls? It will be less then a regular 600 watt ballast and I need to know how much less.

Thanks for the time. - Cough

I don't think anyone has answered the original question yet. There were some answers, but none that take into account the watt useage of the ballast itself.

Can someone who owns a digital ballast look on the sticker containing the electrical information and post the listed amperage of the unit.

Thank you,

ÆROSPACEut

 

[10k]

ÆROSPACE,
The threads first reply said...

HappyHemphog wrote...
My Lumatek 600w 120v says it pulls 5.5 amps.

Cheers!
Hempy

 

[ÆROSPACE]

HAHA. Thanks, sorry about that. Okay, so the ballast is pulling 60 watts for itself. Aren't they supposed to be rated at 99% efficiancy? That seems more like 90%

 

[Blackmelo]

I got myself one. Have worked out that I will be saving myself 75 pounds in electricity per year. The electronic ballast costs about 75 pounds more than a magnetic one...
Not hard to figure out which one to go for.

Did I mention they are brighter and safer?
Although I was told I could switch my hps off and on without problem this is not true. The electronic ballast like the old magnetic ones will need a minimum of 10 mins before you can switch it on again but that is a minor detail.

 

[Guest]

I've got my eye on a couple of the evolution 1000 watt electronic ballasts. $430 each... anyone have experience with them?

They are claiming they draw a total of 800 to 900 watts as opposed to 1100 watts for a standard ballast.

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemDesc.asp?ic=HLBADIEV10120

 

[Dr.Feelgood]

I believe it would be impossible to operate a 1000w bulb with a ballast that only draws "800 to 900" watts. Can't create energy out of nowhere. Law of conservation of energy. They probably draw less current than a magnetic ballast, because they are more efficient (i.e. less heat = less wasted energy).

 

[Guest]

Here is their claim:

The Evolution ballasts was designed specifically to run 1000W lamps to full brightness at 120 volts with a significant power savings. Keep in mind that a 1000W HID magnetic ballast uses 1100 watts of power per hour or 1.1 KWH. The Evolution ballasts runs between 800-900 input watts, depending on the lamp brand. Sunlight Supply had this product in testing and development for 18 months before releasing it to assure its durability.


Maybe they're giving less watts to the lamp but getting comparable brightness/lumens by being more efficient Maybe with the electronic ballast they are getting close to the lumens per watt ratio of a 600.

 

[Guest]

What about this new 750 watt digi?

http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=HLBADILT07240&eq=&Tp=

The Lumatek 750W Digital Ballast is approximately 20-25% brighter than the 600W and produces less heat! For use with 750W HPS bulbs only.

Sounds like perfect lamp.
20-25% brighter than a 600 with only 150 watts more consumption.
Say a 600 is 80,000 lumens + add'll 25% = 100,000 lumens.........
Thats the same as a 1000 MH with substantial power savings.
Not to mention radiant heat.

 

[betterboy]

Actually if ya figure ohm's law
1000/120=8.33 amps but also have to keep in mind the 99% factor so it would be a little higher.
My self, I've got 2- 600's over a 4x4 F&D table and the plants are kicken ass.
I've used 1000 hps with a light rail and that wont compare with what i got going right now and i even used 2- 1000 hps on the 4x4 table, this grew some pretty amazing buds but I'll tell ya the 2- 600's aren't far behind.
bottom line I can buy a 1000 hps for $82.00 and the dig. 600 watt is $269.00, As far as im conserned its worth the extra money, as a matter of fact im going to be replacing all 1000watt magnet coils with the dig ballasts

 

[wholelottasmoke]

ballast compatibility?

ballast compatibility?

So, here's a question someone here might be able to answer. If I'm running 400/600W lights, when do I need a ballast at all?

Oh, and another question, if I do need a ballast, is it always better to buy something that can handle more than I need? It seems to me that this would allow me to put in better bulbs down the line...

Just trying to setup right the first time since it seems there are a lot of things that can go wrong.

 

[Greenlife1]

Wow old bump. Anyway. You need a ballast per bulb. 400 watt bulb= 400 watt ballast. You cant run a 1000 watt ballast with a 400watt bulb in there.
Also if not buying a electronic ballast....ex lumetec, future bright, gallaxy. then you need to either make sure the ballast is switchable(can run either hps or MH) or the one you want.

 

[cashmunny]

What does 'digital' stands for? What is this some kind of new technology?

Thanks!

Peace and love,
Agnes

I'm kind of curious about how they work as well. I don't understand how you can get voltage multiplication without using a transformer.

The only thing I can think of is that they have some kind of IC that generates a square wave and then they filter the square wave with a high pass filter to extract the high amplitude, high frequency fourier component.

I was wondering the other day also, the voltage coming off the pole is what, 480V or more? I wonder if you could run a HID bulb off pole voltage directly, without stepping it down to 120V or 240V and then stepping it back up with a ballast.

 

[Greenlife1]

I am not sure on exactly how a "digital" is set-up, but it is not done the standard way with magnets.
The juice coming into your house(box) from pole is 480 in most cases.
I doubt that you use 480 to a standard ballast without frying it. Same would go for 3 phase 220. I am sure you could mod a ballast to preform off 480, but the only advantage would be you use a lot less amps, and ballast would run more efficient. You don't save money by stepping up in voltage.

 

[cashmunny]

I am not sure on exactly how a "digital" is set-up, but it is not done the standard way with magnets.
The juice coming into your house(box) from pole is 480 in most cases.
I doubt that you use 480 to a standard ballast without frying it. Same would go for 3 phase 220. I am sure you could mod a ballast to preform off 480, but the only advantage would be you use a lot less amps, and ballast would run more efficient. You don't save money by stepping up in voltage.

It just seems silly to me that the voltage gets stepped down from the pole to 120V for your household appliances, and then you run it through another transformer to step the voltage back up for your HID light. But I suppose even the voltage coming off the pole probably isn't enough to spark a HID light directly.

 

[bud-e]

The reason there's such a big difference between the voltage on the pole and the voltage at the house is safety and practicality.

You have the practicality of transmitting electricity over long distances. Those humongous towers they use to move electricity across the state... those things have thousands of volts of electricity. You need a hell of a lot of push to move electricity a long way without losing a lot of it.

But it wouldn't be safe to have that kind of power surging through your walls, so they step it down to a safe(r) voltage and amperage so that if a 4 year old decides to play car by sticking a key in an outlet - not that I ever did anything like that and was blown across the room - there's a good chance it won't kill them.