Running your 600watt bulb at half power is extremely hard on the it and will shorten its effective life dramatically. You should match the bulbs wattage to the wattage you have your ballast set on. A 600 at 1/2 power should have a 360 watt bulb installed. And I have many years of trouble free service from Lumatek Ballasts.....Happy as hell with my quantum dimmable. Can run a 600w mh at 50% for younger plants, gradually turn it up to 100%, swap to hps, then spread the plants into their final positions and flip on the second light. Makes for a nice smooth transition. Saves some power along the way, and it was $170 delivered. Fuck lumatek, their shit started popping fuses every couple days, and not just popping but melting the fuse ends into the receptacle.
Where are you getting this info? Assbackwards....Running your 600watt bulb at half power is extremely hard on the it and will shorten its effective life dramatically. You should match the bulbs wattage to the wattage you have your ballast set on. A 600 at 1/2 power should have a 360 watt bulb installed. And I have many years of trouble free service from Lumatek Ballasts.....
Not backwards, on the money facts........Where are you getting this info? Assbackwards....
I call Bullshit.Not backwards, on the money facts........
Exactly what do you call bullshit? The fact running a 600 watt bulb on 300 watts of juice will shorten the bulbs usable life?(<which is fact)I call Bullshit.
Running your 600watt bulb at half power is extremely hard on the it and will shorten its effective life dramatically. You should match the bulbs wattage to the wattage you have your ballast set on. A 600 at 1/2 power should have a 360 watt bulb installed. And I have many years of trouble free service from Lumatek Ballasts.....
And OP check this site out: www.bulkhydro.com great prices on Lumatek ballasts and Hortilux bulbs with free shipping. I think last time i checked you could get a 600 watt Lumatek for under 190 bucks. And a 600watt Hortilux Enhanced Spectrum HPS bulb for under 90 bucks...
first of all the elements filament and gas's that compose a bulb only burn hot enough to produce the desired light spectrum because of the current that is being put through them, it you are running to low of wattage to a bulb if will one have a shitty light spectrum and two a shitty foot print and could blow ballast or bulb, thats why they make specific bulb wattage's and not just Hi, low and medium . . . .?Not backwards, on the money facts........
You changed incomplete/weak spectrum to 'funky' and shorten bulbs effective life to 'destroy/widespread failure'. Nice try troll.......and what Sam and I have stated is well known fact...........I bet you still think lumens matter also......WatchHow, stating something as fact doesn't mean it's fact, right? That's how it works. Until you have data to present, your position is accurately classified as "opinion" That's the way it works.
I have not heard of widespread lamp failure as a result of running fewer watts through a lamp. And a dial-a-watt feature on ballasts have become a standard feature on high end digital ballasts. That's a compelling point. If this is such a clearly defined problem, why are all of these guys making ballasts to destroy our lamps?
I would need to see hard data before believing running a 1000w lamp at 600w will hurt the bulb or emit a funky spectrum.