red eyes420
Active Member
trying to work out my overall electric bill, will a 600w light use 600w including the ballast? has anybody ever tested the wattage
stupid question alert...does a 600w light use 600w or is it more including the ballast
- Thread starter red eyes420
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- bill electricity grow wattage
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
It will use slightly more than 600 watts. Warning: dimming digital ballasts wears out bulbs.
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
tropicalcannabispatient
Well-Known Member
vostok
Well-Known Member
a lot depends on the maker of ur light even the bulb
on the old magnetic type ballasts add 10%
as it will be chewed by the ballast on start up
the new digital type not so much is used
then theres the cost of cooling that light ..lol
bryan oconner
Well-Known Member
tested a few they are plus or minus on the watts . about 50 watts away. hope this helps . never tested magnetic only digital . digital only way to go they produce more par then magnetic . equals more light the plant sees not just the light you can see. solis tek says there ballasts produce 45 % more par then a magnetic ballast . that's a shit load more light
ryan1918
Well-Known Member
Never heard of this, got sources and what makes them wear them out by changing the %?
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
http://www.isienergycontrols.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/NEMALSD14-2010Guidelines.pdf
Users should be aware that quite often, there is a color shift when dimming MH lamps. The amount and effect of the shift can differ from one type to another. The bulk of available public data is for QMH.
The following examples best represent QMH lamps: With a clear lamp, the color will change toward a higher correlated color temperature (CCT). With sufficient dimming, the source will appear as a clear mercury lamp of approximately 5000K
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6000K in CCT versus the typical 3000K
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4000K for the common MH lamps.
See Figure 1 for the average shift in CCT and the corresponding decrease in lamp power that may be expected in dimming a clear 400W probe start MH lamp. For a phosphor coated lamp, the color temperature increase may not be as drastic. For example, a 3700K coated lamp may increase to only 4000K with dimming. In addition, there will be a reduction in lamp efficacy and color rendering.
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
I was told all this by a grow light rep at a meet & greet in Alaska. He said we already know MH bulb life is shorter and explained why and why the lumen loss is so quick compared to HPS.