socom3riot
Well-Known Member
whats the difference between the regular ballasts and the more expensive digital ballasts?
Difference between regular ballasts and digital ballasts?
- Thread starter socom3riot
- Start date
socom3riot
Well-Known Member
...gee thanks. That answered everything for me.
Demosthenese
Well-Known Member
legallyflying
Well-Known Member
night and day actually. Digi is THE way to go if you can afford them, and they are coming down in price all the time.
The biggest differences are: no noise at all, utterly silent. they don't slowly degrade over time like magnetics, they are more efficient, allot of the models are dimmable (400 4 veg, 600 flower), and the most important difference is the frequency that the light is refreshed. Digital ballasts send juice to the bulb much faster than magnetic ballasts, the electricity is actually "pulsed" to the bulb from the ballast. Think of the refresh rate on your computer. This is why digi's claim 30% more light. Its not more lumens per say, but 30% less time that the bulb is off. Look at people's pictures.. see some with the horizontal bars in the photo.. magnetic ballasts.
The biggest differences are: no noise at all, utterly silent. they don't slowly degrade over time like magnetics, they are more efficient, allot of the models are dimmable (400 4 veg, 600 flower), and the most important difference is the frequency that the light is refreshed. Digital ballasts send juice to the bulb much faster than magnetic ballasts, the electricity is actually "pulsed" to the bulb from the ballast. Think of the refresh rate on your computer. This is why digi's claim 30% more light. Its not more lumens per say, but 30% less time that the bulb is off. Look at people's pictures.. see some with the horizontal bars in the photo.. magnetic ballasts.
Mudslide9791
Well-Known Member
http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Switchable-Hydroponic-Pressure-GYO2002/dp/B002J7PYSU/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1289944078&sr=8-5
I've got this one and it works absolutely perfect. No humming sound whatsoever from the ballast box (it gets hot though, I keep a 6 inch personal fan blowing on my ballast)
When my MH bulb is running I stay on an 18/6 cycle for veg just to give the ballast a cool down break and extend bulb life. Plants do great and there is no growth difference between mine and folks who run 24/7.
I've got this one and it works absolutely perfect. No humming sound whatsoever from the ballast box (it gets hot though, I keep a 6 inch personal fan blowing on my ballast)
When my MH bulb is running I stay on an 18/6 cycle for veg just to give the ballast a cool down break and extend bulb life. Plants do great and there is no growth difference between mine and folks who run 24/7.