What wattage will this ballast use with a 600HPS?

Headwaste

Member
I am already on my backup digital 600w chinese ballasts I bought 5 years ago.Been using this one 4 years.I just put a new hps bulb a week ago.I unplugged ballast to put heavy duty timer replacement on.When I plugged it back in and waiting for cooldown none of my 4 HPS bulbs start but my MH 600w works fine.My garden is 2.5 weeks into flower.I have a 3'x4'x6.5' tent with 600 w mh and 2 x 150w hps.If I buy a 750w(never even heard of them) and use 600w bulbs in it does it draw 750 watts with 600 or 600w draw with 600.I gotta get something today and thought this was to good to pass up.Whadda ya think?
 

Attachments

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
That ballast has 600w and 750w settings. On galaxy's website it give a warning not to use 600w bulbs on the 750w setting. There are in fact 750w HPS bulbs...
 

Headwaste

Member
thanks ,so youre saying I will be using same amount of power as old 600w digital ballast with same bulb ok.I'm not sure if I believe the price.Does the price seem legit?
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
thanks ,so youre saying I will be using same amount of power as old 600w digital ballast with same bulb ok.I'm not sure if I believe the price.Does the price seem legit?
Yes on 600w setting power use should be almost identical (maybe a few watts different.) That price seems like a steal and seller gets good reviews... Order may get cancelled if its a price mistake, but worth a shot...
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
All I can find for RFI complaints is one guy in 2013 said it screwed up his FM radio. I haven't had any issues with RFI with them, FM radio works fine. One of these ballasts is about 3 ft from where the cable line come into my house and 4 ft from where my wifi router sits, neither has been impacted.

I think the RFI issues were with the first generation or two of the digital ballasts, now that it's been many years they have fixed those issues on most ballasts.
 

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
If your wall is 1800w in USA, and you only need to draw 600w, you need a ballast of 1200w. Iv never bought a ballast but i imagine they're just an RLC circuit. The main impedance resistance is from a transformer and a capacitor and you could adjust fine tuning with some amount of power resistors (like incandescent lights). If anyone who isn't an engineer is trying to do this i'd recommend a bit of equation learning. But hey, nothings in vain when learning.
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
All I can find for RFI complaints is one guy in 2013 said it screwed up his FM radio. I haven't had any issues with RFI with them, FM radio works fine. One of these ballasts is about 3 ft from where the cable line come into my house and 4 ft from where my wifi router sits, neither has been impacted.

I think the RFI issues were with the first generation or two of the digital ballasts, now that it's been many years they have fixed those issues on most ballasts.
What did they do to fix the ballasts that produced rfi/emi? I'm curious as to where your info comes from and why a company recently released filters for ballasts.
 

Headwaste

Member
Yeah dbkick,I wonder also .Come to think of it I read an RFI thread somewhere last year on a mj forum.A forum member bought a quality digital ballast. Got to return it after he said it caused major interference.The seller returned the ballast to the mfg and told the problem.Maker said no way,rebuilt a unit for him rewiring and insulating everything.The customer got it back,tried it same problem,returned again.The mfg tried to shield it a couple more times and defeated went and told the customer there is no way to shield it because no matter what it will transmit through the antenna and bulb.Mfg said couldn't fix that.sounded like a true story and people are more aware and even solteks and such usually have a couple reviews saying they got in trouble from RFI?
 

Headwaste

Member
I just decided on my emergency 600w ballast.That Apollo nomofatum recommended looks like best deal for a backup.I didn't realize the Apollo's were UL and ETL cert. Now should I have to worry about the cord/bulb RFI? Also now this has happened should I leave plants in current light spectrum- 1x600wmh and 2x150 hps.Plants are now in 2.5 weeks flower,showing buds.When I get new ballast if I switch back to 1x600hps and 2x 150 hps will it mess up flowering?I could just leave it but heard they make small crystally buds.
 

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
I'm running 2x Apollo, 1x iPower, and 4x Welthink 315 cmh. While 2 welthink, 1 apollo, and the ipower were all running I ran a few RFI tests. I tried running 560 AM to listen to static, since nothing is broadcast in my area on that frequency, it was constant static, driving up and down the street the static changed/increased as you passed obstructions (houses or giant oak trees) on the east side of the road. Static also went through the roof as I approached high voltage power lines. My house is one of those obstructions where you hear static increase, but no different than any of the other obstructions. I tried again on the nearest AM station I could receive (I believe it was 600 AM.) With an actual station coming in, I only noticed interference from the high voltage power lines, none from the trees or houses, including mine.

After playing around with my phone, radio, laptop, ... I conclude that my mylar causes some minor issues, cell phone signal drops, wifi loses strength, ... But it make no difference if lights are on or off.

Reason I think most manufacturers fixed the issue is that complaints are way down and usage of devices it would interfere with are way up over the last 5 years. The complaints are so rare now, and usually fixed by a replacement. That indicates that they changed something to fix the issue.
 

Headwaste

Member
I'm running 2x Apollo, 1x iPower, and 4x Welthink 315 cmh. While 2 welthink, 1 apollo, and the ipower were all running I ran a few RFI tests. I tried running 560 AM to listen to static, since nothing is broadcast in my area on that frequency, it was constant static, driving up and down the street the static changed/increased as you passed obstructions (houses or giant oak trees) on the east side of the road. Static also went through the roof as I approached high voltage power lines. My house is one of those obstructions where you hear static increase, but no different than any of the other obstructions. I tried again on the nearest AM station I could receive (I believe it was 600 AM.) With an actual station coming in, I only noticed interference from the high voltage power lines, none from the trees or houses, including mine.

After playing around with my phone, radio, laptop, ... I conclude that my mylar causes some minor issues, cell phone signal drops, wifi loses strength, ... But it make no difference if lights are on or off.

Reason I think most manufacturers fixed the issue is that complaints are way down and usage of devices it would interfere with are way up over the last 5 years. The complaints are so rare now, and usually fixed by a replacement. That indicates that they changed something to fix the issue.
thanks for info.Was issue years ago when bought mine.I'm getting the Apollo because its ul listed and cert.Still don't trust uncertified chinese stuff.Still see a lot aren't.
 
Top