Digital 150w hps Ballast

I'm curious whether anyone has used or is using any of the 150w hps digital ballasts available? I'm using a sunsystem 150w hps right now, but if switching out the magnetic ballast it comes with for a digital ballast would help to decrease my temps it may be worthwhile.

HIDhut offers a couple versions, they have their own brand for only $60, and two different galaxy ones for $150 and $240 (dual socket). Obviously the more expensive galaxy one is out of the question. For that much I could easily just get a 250 or 400 with a cooltube and improve my ventilation to handle the heat. The other galaxy one is still pretty expensive and not much more than a basic 250w setup from htg.

The hidhut one intrigues me though. For only $60 it may be something worth trying, but I'm wary that it'd just be money wasted and not help at all. If it were able to drop my temps by even just 2 or 3 degrees by switching then it'd be worth it to me.

So, what are everyone's thoughts on this?
Here's the link to the hidhut one: http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/150w-high-pressure-sodium-digital-ballast-p-51.html

Those are the only 150 watt digis that I have seen. I would give it a shot. Having a remote ballast will reduce temps. Out of curiosity, what is the amp draw on the sun system 150? I had a Flurolux 150 hps and it pulled 3.2 amps at 120 lol!

I'm thinking even just having it digital instead of magnetic could help w/ reducing temps since it won't be wasting as much energy. Haha I think that might've been the startup requirement you were reading. The housing on the ballast says it takes 3.2amp as well but the booklet that came with it said the running requirement is 165w so I'm pretty confident that's the amperage at startup only. I'll look around for a multimeter and check it when I get a chance.

If you can get either ballast out of the grow space then it doesn't matter which you use as the heat won't affect your grow anyways...
I would like 150W but in MH, do they not make this wattage bulb? It would be ideal for my veg cabinet...

The thing is I'm not sure I'd be moving out of the grow cab. If switching to digital dropped the temp without having to remote the ballast away from the cab then I'd rather do that. The galaxy ones are switchable to mh, not sure how common the bulbs are though. more commonly I've seen 175w mh or smaller ones in security lights. You might be able to use 2 75w lights?

Did you get it? I'm in this same boat now...

daft said:

Did you get it? I'm in this same boat now...

Click to expand...

No, I ended up just switching over to LED because I needed to be able to run things more stealthy. With the HPS I couldn't keep temps under 90F without an inline fan on and it was too loud. Now I just use a couple pc fans and things stay at about 80F. I have found a few options for digital 150w ballasts, but they're expensive enough to make it worth just getting a 250w if you can manage it.

quantum makes dimmable ballasts.
You can get a 400w and dim it down to 200w. Then if you ever want to upgrade, you don't need a new ballast.

http://www.ezhydroshop.com/quantum-400w-dimmable-hid-digital-ballast/