digi hps bulb or ebay hps

berrykid · Dec 31, 2011

whats the deference between the two is the expensive digi bulbs better than a reg hps bulb from ebay and if it is can someone explain y ima swtching all my bulbs for next grow and wanted to know wat to go with im tired of the 400s im switching to 600s so i need to switch bulbs and ballast all 5 of them can someone help should i get the expensive digi bulbs or a regular ebay hps bulb what should i do oh and shoud i get a magnetic ballast or digital thnx

berry kid

racerboy71 · Dec 31, 2011

for some odd reason, when they made digital ballasts, they made them fire the bulbs at a much higher frequency than older magnetic style ballasts.. this higher frequency is what is the death of some bulbs as it vibrates them and causes them to fail early.
i've already blown one $125 eye hortilux in my digital ballasts as they're not made for them...

some of the companies that are now making bulbs made specifically for digital ballasts are made to handle the higher frequencies.. some of these companies are digilux, oshio and sunpulse..

i'd rather spend the money on the bulbs made for digital ballasts than waste money buying cheaper bulbs and having them blow out every month or so..

darkdestruction420 · Dec 31, 2011

for some odd reason, when they made digital ballasts, they made them fire the bulbs at a much higher frequency than older magnetic style ballasts.. this higher frequency is what is the death of some bulbs as it vibrates them and causes them to fail early.

Thank you, i was not aware of that.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to racerboy71 again.

I tried. lol

berrykid · Dec 31, 2011

thnx m8 so should i buy digi bulbs and get digital ballast also

racerboy71 said:
for some odd reason, when they made digital ballasts, they made them fire the bulbs at a much higher frequency than older magnetic style ballasts.. this higher frequency is what is the death of some bulbs as it vibrates them and causes them to fail early.
i've already blown one $125 eye hortilux in my digital ballasts as they're not made for them...

some of the companies that are now making bulbs made specifically for digital ballasts are made to handle the higher frequencies.. some of these companies are digilux, oshio and sunpulse..

i'd rather spend the money on the bulbs made for digital ballasts than waste money buying cheaper bulbs and having them blow out every month or so..

darkdestruction420 · Dec 31, 2011

racerboy, youve scared me. do you think my http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-AgroMax-600-watt-Hybrid-HPS-MH-Bulb.asp will be ok in my digital ballast?

racerboy71 · Dec 31, 2011

berrykid said:
thnx m8 so should i buy digi bulbs and get digital ballast also

oh well, if you don't have a digital ballast, than you don't need the digital bulbs... you can just go with the cheaper versions if that is what you want..
the real differences with the cheaper bulbs and some of the higher priced ones is the kelvin range that the bulbs emit light at.. the kelvin range is the spectrum of light that the bulbs emit... some bulbs have a better suited spectrum for growing plants at while others may in fact give off more lumens, but they may all be in the wrong range for growing plants with..
most bulb manufacturers show a lil graph of the k of their bulbs.. this is what you want to really base your purchase off of imo..

racerboy71 · Dec 31, 2011

darkdestruction420 said:
racerboy, youve scared me. do you think my http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-AgroMax-600-watt-Hybrid-HPS-MH-Bulb.asp will be ok in my digital ballast?

agromax are nice bulbs dark, just not so sure how well they will handle the newer digital ballasts honestly.. don't really know one way or another and don't wanna lie and make something up..
only one way to tell really and plug that baby in, lol.. hate to say stuff like that, but sometimes that's the only way to find out.. i just know that i have a galaxy digital, and i thought i was doing good with the blue eye hortilux bulbs that were like $125 or so, and i only had it for idk, a month or two, not any longer, and one day i noticed my grow was dark... took the bulb out and didn't really notice anything crazy about it, but i had another bulb laying around, put it in and it fired right up...

i've since gone with the digilux bulbs for the digital ballasts.. them, and for this grow, i just got the sun pulse mh's that are also made for digital ballasts..the sun pulses are really nice as they come in different k ranges, from like 3k all the way up to 10 k.. u use them like you would cfls, just get the right k for the right phase of growth, ie, the 6k for veg, and the 3k for flowering.. this was my first grow using strictly mh's for the entire grow, and i have to say i was super happy with the end results..
i've had the 6k bulb in for over two months of veg and didn't have a problem, and have had the 3k in for about 3 months now, and same thing, not an issue.

racerboy71 · Dec 31, 2011

i just found this lil bit of info dark on how digital ballasts work with a few quick google searches.. wasn't exactly what i was looking for, but it still is an ok quick read imo..
the article that i got my info from was an article in high times, yah, i know, lol, a few months or so ago on a feature about why bulbs are failing quicker in digital ballasts.. that article was rather in depth and a really good read if you could dig up the old article from high times, i'd recommend it for sure..
http://ateam.lbl.gov/Design-Guide/DGHtm/electronicvs.magneticballasts.htm

racerboy71 · Dec 31, 2011

not sure if this is the right article or not, but it's is what i found by searching on the hightimes sight..

http://hightimes.com/magazine/ht_admin/5636

SimonD · Jan 1, 2012

berrykid said:
whats the deference between the two is the expensive digi bulbs better than a reg hps bulb from ebay and if it is can someone explain y ima swtching all my bulbs for next grow and wanted to know wat to go with im tired of the 400s im switching to 600s so i need to switch bulbs and ballast all 5 of them can someone help should i get the expensive digi bulbs or a regular ebay hps bulb what should i do oh and shoud i get a magnetic ballast or digital thnx

berry kid

For a 600, I'd suggest Galaxy or Quantum ballast and a 600HPS GE lamp from mdhydro. I've been running these for years. HTH

Simon

gamebreaker81 · Jan 1, 2012

I have had really good luck with htg brand digital lamps. Short money and they work very nicely compared to the higher end lamps ...

geekmike · Jan 1, 2012

SimonD said:
For a 600, I'd suggest Galaxy or Quantum ballast and a 600HPS GE lamp from mdhydro. I've been running these for years. HTH

Simon

just went to that site.... $20 a bulb fora GE 600w HPS! Picked up 3, sweet.

Buddy Ganga · Jan 1, 2012

We generally use Ushio bulbs made by hortilux, they are build so well we have run a 400 watter with a 1000 watt ballast and couldn't blow it.

berrykid · Jan 1, 2012

thnx m8 just checked out the site would those bulbs last with a quantum ballast +rep

SimonD said:
For a 600, I'd suggest Galaxy or Quantum ballast and a 600HPS GE lamp from mdhydro. I've been running these for years. HTH

Simon

SimonD · Jan 1, 2012

berrykid said:
thnx m8 just checked out the site would those bulbs last with a quantum ballast +rep

I have 5 Quantum 600HPS ballasts all loaded with the GEs. They last and last. I usally don't run them at reduced wattage, FWIW.

Simon

berrykid · Jan 1, 2012

ima deff get those bulbs and i already got 3 quantums all i need is one more thnx alot m8 i wouldve end up waisting $78 a bulb if it wasnt for u i got 5x400s and a 1000watt i would never change the 1000watter that shit kicks ass the 400s really dnt do it for me im hopeing with the 600s things would change ill probably use the 400s for the vegg room mayb cuz the t5s get them going once again thnx m8

berrykid

SimonD said:
I have 5 Quantum 600HPS ballasts all loaded with the GEs. They last and last. I usally don't run them at reduced wattage, FWIW.

Simon

sfttailpaul · Jan 1, 2012

racerboy71 said:
oh well, if you don't have a digital ballast, than you don't need the digital bulbs... you can just go with the cheaper versions if that is what you want..
the real differences with the cheaper bulbs and some of the higher priced ones is the kelvin range that the bulbs emit light at.. the kelvin range is the spectrum of light that the bulbs emit... some bulbs have a better suited spectrum for growing plants at while others may in fact give off more lumens, but they may all be in the wrong range for growing plants with..
most bulb manufacturers show a lil graph of the k of their bulbs.. this is what you want to really base your purchase off of imo..

I have had a difficult time finding those little charts with the spectrum emitted by the bulb. I believe that the cheaper bulbs are almost as good as the more expensive ones considering that they can be 5X cheaper. The Sun Pulse bulbs (MH) that work in their splitter is intriguing, and I am in the process of trying this out. One cannot, however, gain more wattage than is originally put there so the concept of using 2 @ 600 W bulbs from 1-1000W HPS ballast rreally means that they are split at 500W each...

cowboylogic · Jan 1, 2012

I have been running Hortilux bulbs in Lumatek ballasts for some time with no problems. Even Hortilux oks the use of electronic ballasts. Check out this link: http://www.eyehortilux.com/eye_lighting_faqs.html

racerboy71 · Jan 1, 2012

cowboylogic said:
I have been running Hortilux bulbs in Lumatek ballasts for some time with no problems. Even Hortilux oks the use of electronic ballasts. Check out this link: http://www.eyehortilux.com/eye_lighting_faqs.html

That's odd cowboy as that's the bulb that blew out in my galaxy ballast in like a month or so.. idk if different digital ballast fire at different frequencies or what the dillio is with that..

Buddy Ganga · Jan 1, 2012

Cheap bulbs will cost you a lot more over the long run. Just had a 65$ 600wat blow up in my raptor and shattered my glass.

Find someone with an older used top of the line bulb and put it right next to a new 30 or 40$ bulb and you will see the difference.
Here is a pic of 5 flowering under a 600 watt ushio that was purchased last may and used for 2 other flowers before I used it in this tent.

They look better then plants I have under a new cheaper 1000 watt.

It's like dropping a dollar every time to bend over to pick of a nickle..

digi hps bulb or ebay hps

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