Lumatek or Quantum ( to power 1000w bulbs)

jdmcwestevo said:

i dont understand why everyone wants to use digitals. what is the advantage? for the price of a single digi 1000w ballast you can get almost 3 magnetics. so you can dim the lights, i never understood that if you bought a 1000w dont you want to use all 1000w of the watts you paid for ?!?!?! the power consumption is negligible a valueline 1000w magnetic ballast pulls 5 amps at 240v and a quantum 1000w pulls 4.4-4.5 amps at 240v. you pay 3 times the price for a half amp in power savings?! they also have shorter warranties than magnetic, and heat output difference i have never noticed. you should just get a magnetic and save money. magnetics are also simple to rebuild only 3 main parts, magnet, coil/windings, ignitor. anyway thats my rant lol

Click to expand...

So much unfounded information in this post,let me correct just a few misconceptions you have.

First off digital ballasts are not 3 times the price of a mag ballast,the mag ballast you exampled is the lowest priced on the market & the 2 digi ballasts in this thread are both hyped up over priced hydro shop sales technique bullshit ballasts,a kick ass 1,000 watt digi ballast can easily be bought for $40 more than the valueline magnetic,so goes your 3 times the price theory.

Now for energy savings,you obviously are not educated very well on how costly thermal heat transer in electronics is,all the excess heat produced by magnetic ballasts costs money in electric usage,the heat isnt a simple byproduct that costs nothing,every BTU ( british thermal unit ) that electronics put out uses extra electricity to produce that heat,exactly like electric space heaters,the cost savings from digitals would be atleast $20 per 1,000 watts,per month,thats $240 a year per ballast !

There is alot more to this issue than the simple comparing of amperages ,no matter how you slice up the info digis are a far better value on monthly electric costs.

Until they break...

panhead said:

So much unfounded information in this post,let me correct just a few misconceptions you have.

First off digital ballasts are not 3 times the price of a mag ballast,the mag ballast you exampled is the lowest priced on the market & the 2 digi ballasts in this thread are both hyped up over priced hydro shop sales technique bullshit ballasts,a kick ass 1,000 watt digi ballast can easily be bought for $40 more than the valueline magnetic,so goes your 3 times the price theory.

Now for energy savings,you obviously are not educated very well on how costly thermal heat transer in electronics is,all the excess heat produced by magnetic ballasts costs money in electric usage,the heat isnt a simple byproduct that costs nothing,every BTU ( british thermal unit ) that electronics put out uses extra electricity to produce that heat,exactly like electric space heaters,the cost savings from digitals would be atleast $20 per 1,000 watts,per month,thats $240 a year per ballast !

There is alot more to this issue than the simple comparing of amperages ,no matter how you slice up the info digis are a far better value on monthly electric costs.

Click to expand...

so what digi are you talking about that is that cheap? an ebay model if you look at the 3 most popular from a hydro store you get quantum, lumatek, and nextgen. they are all within 20 bucks of each other. i never understood the difference in mag ballast they are the most basic electrical component so i use the lowest priced from a reputable company CAP. (yes they have issues, but never had a bad ballast knock on wood and i have purchased well over 100 of them in the last 6 months)

now you wanna talk about the BTU of heat it puts out the digi also puts out heat it is just disapated faster by using fans. i have electrical rooms with 10-20 mag ballast and they dont get very hot. im sure my rooms are on much larger scale than others and i have never had to calculate my ballast heat output into an equation for my a/c. if i dont need to worry when i have 20 of them im sure 90% of the people on here who have 2 or 4 at most dont need to worry much either, so it becomes a mute point in comparison.

the reason i compare the amp difference is because that is the main advantage advertised by the companies making the ballast.

another MAJOR point is like myself and dirtyho1968 have stated is they break often, and have limited warranties compared to magnetics.

and again i would like to see a link to your digi ballast that is $40 more than the valueline.

I run quantum's and I love them, I have 4 1000w. The difference in price to run the 4 digis compared to the 4 magnetic is almost 90.00 less a month. I have never had one fail they run 20 hours a day. If your system is under powered or right at the edge your going to have problem, not to mention it is asking for a fire....

jdmcwestevo said:

so what digi are you talking about that is that cheap? an ebay model if you look at the 3 most popular from a hydro store you get quantum, lumatek, and nextgen. they are all within 20 bucks of each other. i never understood the difference in mag ballast they are the most basic electrical component so i use the lowest priced from a reputable company CAP. (yes they have issues, but never had a bad ballast knock on wood and i have purchased well over 100 of them in the last 6 months)

now you wanna talk about the BTU of heat it puts out the digi also puts out heat it is just disapated faster by using fans. i have electrical rooms with 10-20 mag ballast and they dont get very hot. im sure my rooms are on much larger scale than others and i have never had to calculate my ballast heat output into an equation for my a/c. if i dont need to worry when i have 20 of them im sure 90% of the people on here who have 2 or 4 at most dont need to worry much either, so it becomes a mute point in comparison.

the reason i compare the amp difference is because that is the main advantage advertised by the companies making the ballast.

another MAJOR point is like myself and dirtyho1968 have stated is they break often, and have limited warranties compared to magnetics.

and again i would like to see a link to your digi ballast that is $40 more than the valueline.

Click to expand...

Older post but I agree with poster and to add and sum it up. On one side we have a cat diesel and the other a BlueTec

Digital ballast
pros
1. efficient at 240vac 9-9.5RLA vs 10-10.2
2. Running cooler means less current for the same result it's physics the byproduct of conversion on a induction coil(magnet) or ssc is heat. So the amount of heat generated is directly associated with efficiency.
3. Flexibility babies don't need 1k when they start off. SSC allows for change of frequency.

Cons
1. Decreased reliability semiconductors fail, coils are rated for continuous duty.
2. Cost more, solid state components have higher production costs labor and tooling

Electromagnet induction ballast
Pros
1. Reliable reliable reliable. Three component transformer, capacitor and igniter
2. Low cost the parts are readily available and produced in bulk
3. Can strike pretty much any bulb out there
4. Cheap to fix and can be fixed with a meter and wirenuts

Cons
1. Inefficient due to the simple design and inherent heat generation 10-10.2 RLA vs 9-9.5
2. no frequency control, it's a induction transformer the frequency you put in is what you're getting out.

Some helpful notes *240vac users aren't getting away with 4-4.5running load amps. You need to account for your TWO power legs. So you're spending the same amount of juice as the 120vac guys sorry. You just have a balanced circuit which brings me to one more point. *if you're running any device especially at 120vac and you find the unit dead you should check your wiring, improper and inadequate neutrals are more likely the problem than blaming one type of ballast. If you have aluminum wiring that crap is a fire hazard! It requires retightening due to expansion and contraction melted neutrals are very common. Aluminum wire people...go with god *cross hand gesture*

jdmcwestevo said:

so what digi are you talking about that is that cheap? an ebay model if you look at the 3 most popular from a hydro store you get quantum, lumatek, and nextgen. they are all within 20 bucks of each other. i never understood the difference in mag ballast they are the most basic electrical component so i use the lowest priced from a reputable company CAP. (yes they have issues, but never had a bad ballast knock on wood and i have purchased well over 100 of them in the last 6 months)

now you wanna talk about the BTU of heat it puts out the digi also puts out heat it is just disapated faster by using fans. i have electrical rooms with 10-20 mag ballast and they dont get very hot. im sure my rooms are on much larger scale than others and i have never had to calculate my ballast heat output into an equation for my a/c. if i dont need to worry when i have 20 of them im sure 90% of the people on here who have 2 or 4 at most dont need to worry much either, so it becomes a mute point in comparison.

the reason i compare the amp difference is because that is the main advantage advertised by the companies making the ballast.

another MAJOR point is like myself and dirtyho1968 have stated is they break often, and have limited warranties compared to magnetics.

and again i would like to see a link to your digi ballast that is $40 more than the valueline.

Click to expand...

Older post but I agree with poster and to add and sum it up. On one side we have a cat diesel and the other a BlueTec

Digital ballast
pros
1. efficient at 240vac 9-9.5RLA vs 10-10.2
2. Running cooler means less current for the same result it's physics the byproduct of conversion on a induction coil(magnet) or ssc is heat. So the amount of heat generated is directly associated with efficiency.
3. Flexibility babies don't need 1k when they start off. SSC allows for change of frequency.

Cons
1. Decreased reliability semiconductors fail, coils are rated for continuous duty.
2. Cost more, solid state components have higher production costs labor and tooling

Electromagnet induction ballast
Pros
1. Reliable reliable reliable. Three component transformer, capacitor and igniter
2. Low cost the parts are readily available and produced in bulk
3. Can strike pretty much any bulb out there
4. Cheap to fix and can be fixed with a meter and wirenuts

Cons
1. Inefficient due to the simple design and inherent heat generation 10-10.2 RLA vs 9-9.5
2. no frequency control, it's a induction transformer the frequency you put in is what you're getting out.

Some helpful notes *240vac users aren't getting away with 4-4.5running load amps. You need to account for your TWO power legs. So you're spending the same amount of juice as the 120vac guys sorry. You just have a balanced circuit which brings me to one more point. *if you're running any device especially at 120vac and you find the unit dead you should check your wiring, improper and inadequate neutrals are more likely the problem than blaming one type of ballast. If you have aluminum wiring that crap is a fire hazard! It requires retightening due to expansion and contraction melted neutrals are very common. Aluminum wire people...go with god *cross hand gesture*