for those who use the dimnable fonction on there ballast i need your help

alright im about to buy a 600 w dimmable ballast and I got a few question about the dimn. First if I put it to 50% strength will mybulb life be increased ? Do I need the original wattage bulb for it to work or can I put let say a 400 w bulb and tone the ballast down below that point ? might have more question to come but for now that what I wonder about the most .... ty for your time and input guy

no it will not increase .......infact it does a little damage to it since the full charge is not passing tho u lose about 2000 hours is what i was told from shop ppl .........all bulbs are designed with a certin amount of time built in at a certin watt when u change that u alter the figures .........like now most dimmable bulbs have more then one set of lights i seen cfls with 3 different tubes to make it dimmable ..................rem this is like the old system where u are passing the current over a wire that heats up and then the gas in the bulb makes it react in a different way

the only reason to get the dimmable is to help controll the cost of power .........u can dim MH but HPS u can not since it changes the effect of the light spec

u need to have the orginal watt using anything else in there will cause damage to the system and void all warrenties u had on it ( most come with a 3 years replace or rebuild from the makers plus what ever u got from site/store on top of it )

justugh said:

no it will not increase .......infact it does a little damage to it since the full charge is not passing tho u lose about 2000 hours is what i was told from shop ppl .........all bulbs are designed with a certin amount of time built in at a certin watt when u change that u alter the figures .........like now most dimmable bulbs have more then one set of lights i seen cfls with 3 different tubes to make it dimmable ..................rem this is like the old system where u are passing the current over a wire that heats up and then the gas in the bulb makes it react in a different way

the only reason to get the dimmable is to help controll the cost of power .........u can dim MH but HPS u can not since it changes the effect of the light spec

u need to have the orginal watt using anything else in there will cause damage to the system and void all warrenties u had on it ( most come with a 3 years replace or rebuild from the makers plus what ever u got from site/store on top of it )

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im sorry but I have to correct you at the end. I used 2 lumatek 600s dimmable. MH and HPS. YOU CAN DIM HPS, but youre spot on about the bulb life. I really do not like using the dim feature unless i really need to. I can tell the strain it has had on the bulb. more so the MH than the HPS but definitely both. I also heard directly from lumatek that SUPER LUMENS IS FAKE. they didnt word it like that but when you use super lumens what is happening is the bulb is actually just heating up more , not technically more lumens at all. as far as my understanding goes

are u sure .........i have noticed a different in the light in the HPS one

i have a apollo 600 watt the hps bulb they sent me i ran it tho the dim 50 and 75 % power the hps at 50 had more of a orange color and 75% gets some yellowing then 100 look like everyone elses ...............the next day the timer when off and the bulb did not kick on it might have been damaged in shipping....they sent a replace ment one for me total different bulb shape ....but since then i just left it on 100% and put a extra 75 bucks a month aside for power bill

No all bulbs throw the spectrum to the right when cool and lower power flow. and when hot the spectrum goes blue. Cfls will do this also as with any bulb

justugh said:

are u sure .........i have noticed a different in the light in the HPS one

i have a apollo 600 watt the hps bulb they sent me i ran it tho the dim 50 and 75 % power the hps at 50 had more of a orange color and 75% gets some yellowing then 100 look like everyone elses ...............the next day the timer when off and the bulb did not kick on it might have been damaged in shipping....they sent a replace ment one for me total different bulb shape ....but since then i just left it on 100% and put a extra 75 bucks a month aside for power bill

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yeah man , i use the lumatek with hortilux bulb . never any problem. when it starts up I see the spectrum change , but once the bulb is heated its the normal spectrum. Ive used these ballasts for years. Many different brands of bulbs too.

justugh said:

are u sure .........i have noticed a different in the light in the HPS one

i have a apollo 600 watt the hps bulb they sent me i ran it tho the dim 50 and 75 % power the hps at 50 had more of a orange color and 75% gets some yellowing then 100 look like everyone elses ...............the next day the timer when off and the bulb did not kick on it might have been damaged in shipping....they sent a replace ment one for me total different bulb shape ....but since then i just left it on 100% and put a extra 75 bucks a month aside for power bill

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plus idk how many different ballasts uve used. But ive had a 150, 250, 400, 600, 430, and 1000. bulb wattage can change the spectrum a little. itll all be red like you need . but i notice a vast different from 400 watt to 1000 w without a doubt

cool beans thanks for teaching me something new will modify answers

mm damn im a bit unsure what to do now I wanna grow max 4 auto to 6 at most but I don't want the heat to be a issue but also I want them to get the best lumen output I can give them sight.some people told me get a 600 and dim if its to hot witch I found at the time quite wise but now looking at that info you gave me guy I wonder if a 600w is what I need might just get a 400w and lst or scrog my auto what do you thing ? if I can achieve the same yield with a 400 w I would be quite happy but if I cannot I can sell the ballast and buy one a tad bigger. Any input on that guy your help is more than needed and plus rep for all of you

I, like justugh have an ipower. Mine is a 600watt cool tube I got it shipped from amazon for 187. I think that would suit your needs. I would say it gives good light to a 3x3 area....temps maybe 4-5 degrees above ambient with decent air flow

yah man a 6 inch cool tube set up with a 400 cfm on a varible sped controller ............honestly if the passive air system dide not let so much light out that room would be sleep able ........the tem varible from outside to in in about 5 degrees and that is with the fan on the lowest setting if i move it to full power the temp matches the intake air COOL TUBES ARE THE SHIT if u do get one look into a filter system (tried using vacum bages designed for shop vacs the ones that get all the dust with in 3 days i sawl a noticable color change do to crap getting sucked tho ) i need a hempa filter clean the air out guys house i forgot the last time we cleaned it other then normal stuff ) ......going to rig it up as a intake just looking for fan speed numbers they only list area volume

sadly im in Canada so for something similar it will cost me 220 plus 40 to ship in can dollars

renkar said:

mm damn im a bit unsure what to do now I wanna grow max 4 auto to 6 at most but I don't want the heat to be a issue but also I want them to get the best lumen output I can give them sight.some people told me get a 600 and dim if its to hot witch I found at the time quite wise but now looking at that info you gave me guy I wonder if a 600w is what I need might just get a 400w and lst or scrog my auto what do you thing ? if I can achieve the same yield with a 400 w I would be quite happy but if I cannot I can sell the ballast and buy one a tad bigger. Any input on that guy your help is more than needed and plus rep for all of you

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400 w is good for lst or scrog for sure. 600s are really the best IMO. i always find 1000s to be a little too hot to get em where i want even though dnt get me wrong , for numbers theyre always producers. never knockin the 1000 . Current setup it 2 400s . If this is a truly personal grow your ok with 400s in a perpetual cycle. idrk what youre doing so its hard to FULLY wrap my mind around that. If you wanna do 4 plants though , 400 might be too little depending on size. typically i do one monster under a 400 and pull between 2-3 ounces. or I could do 2 nice size trees and get a little less , maybe a little more depending on strain. I still use little cfls for side and under light here and there sometimes but its probably not necesarry, I just like uniform plump nugs all over before chop

justugh said:

yah man a 6 inch cool tube set up with a 400 cfm on a varible sped controller ............honestly if the passive air system dide not let so much light out that room would be sleep able ........the tem varible from outside to in in about 5 degrees and that is with the fan on the lowest setting if i move it to full power the temp matches the intake air COOL TUBES ARE THE SHIT if u do get one look into a filter system (tried using vacum bages designed for shop vacs the ones that get all the dust with in 3 days i sawl a noticable color change do to crap getting sucked tho ) i need a hempa filter clean the air out guys house i forgot the last time we cleaned it other then normal stuff ) ......going to rig it up as a intake just looking for fan speed numbers they only list area volume

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cool tubes are good , the issue sometimes with them is the lack of spread though . My local hydro shop doesnt even carry cool tubes anymore cuz everyone just wants hoods it seems like. check out Lumii brother! they were a chinese company hydrofarm bought out and redid the design on some of their gear. i got a badasssss 6 inch air cooled , 24 inch wide 28 long reflector for 100 bucks! cant beat that with raptor 6's going for over 200

CoreyATX420 said:

cool tubes are good , the issue sometimes with them is the lack of spread though . My local hydro shop doesnt even carry cool tubes anymore cuz everyone just wants hoods it seems like. check out Lumii brother! they were a chinese company hydrofarm bought out and redid the design on some of their gear. i got a badasssss 6 inch air cooled , 24 inch wide 28 long reflector for 100 bucks! cant beat that with raptor 6's going for over 200

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well like that other guy i got it off amazon 600watt 2 bulbs(mh hps) a dimmable digital ballest 6 inch cool tube with wing reflectors timer and hooks to hang her in one package for 168 bucks no shipping since i was prime already

i love the thing it is cool to touch even if the light is on i can touch the top .......i was using a t5 system/outdoor sunlight and well the 600 watt kicks ass the bush is thicker and greener 19 days and i have 3 branches poking tho the fan leaves 2 more coming out and i nice top cola forming .......it looks like autos do 5 or 6 interlevels then they go to flowering and strech out

i looked into hoods the reason ppl are grabing them is the light pattern they put out is almost perfect for a tent if u get one of the older style one..........but the ones that are cool tube designed u know with hinged glass u are looking at 130 150 just for that and i could not justify it ............. if u had the hood up near the top u would not need to move it like u do with tubes or other reflectors

with the cool tube and the t5 i am getting 109k lumens on the hps at 850 watts add in the 150 watts for the fan and i am at 1000watts

Hmm, You don't mention what size area your working.
2x2 a 400 will work nicely
3x3 a 600 is what I would run
4x4 now here you could run a 600 but, I would only run pure Indica's or Indica dominate strains. Once you start running Sativa dominate strains they become much more demanding for light to finish properly. So you should jump to 1K's if that's what your going to be running.

Mmm, most auto's I've run in testing don't have the proper veg time to SCROG but will SOG nicely.
A lot of auto's are nute sensitive (overfeeding), be careful and good luck!