Anyone else having problems with Lumatek ballast?

[Kron Don]

Sadly I am hearing more and more about lumateks going out this year weekly. I knew Quantums were getting very popular with their low return rate but I had no idea Lumatek was slipping THIS BAD. Smh

 

[waayne]

Kron Don last month my local dealer showed me a pallet that was nearly half full
of Lumateks he was returning to the manufacturer

He's not really too happy about it, and is now phasing them out of his product line.

 

[KennyPowers]

Thats because online has NO OVERHEAD. So yo can get shit way cheaper and MOST shops wont even bother entertaining your question about matching prices because most of the time you would be making nothing or slim to none. And you may have saved money but look at the situation you are in, I agree with TheOneandOnly. Start a good relationship with a hydro store you feel good about and go from there. Online is good for certain things but for equipment I would always say go to a store so you can avoid this BS. And all 600ws are relatively the SAME price as thouies. Oh and if you buy a ballast online just check the manufactures printed date, good for 5 years, unless its a quantum.

i shop regularly at a store that price matches. they may not make much profit on that stuff, but everything extra i grab from there is still $$ in their pockets. i also drive almost an hour to get there, so call around. never hurts to ask. even when they say no alot of the smaller stores will work with you if you are dropping a bit of cash.

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

Crazy to hear. Im a fan of lumateks. Never had any issues. Not a big fan of quantum. Whats the word on galaxy's?

 

[baba G]

Luckily for me, my local dealer is righteous and fair and a great guy in general, as I've had 3 -400 watt, 4- 600 watt and somewhere between
12-14 1000 watt Lumateks fail on me in the last 2 1/2 years....
in the same time period 1-1000 watt magnetic ballast failed
and all my original Quantums are running fine and have yet to have a failure.........

My local dealer has replaced all of the ones I've had fail,and now when I walk in he just asks me how many I'm returning today........;)

Never been a fan of the Marin guys and their lumateks...Quantums all the way and Powerhouse magnetics...lol Also been stacking Solis TEks Matrix too, I love the quietness versus my Quantums. Have you fiddled with a Solis TEk yet waayne?

 

[Kron Don]

Damn that is fatal. I work at a shop and we discontinued carrying them and I thought boss man was just being cheap but the Lumateks are just getting worse. We basically swapped all new Lumateks for Quantums and customers haven't been happier. Ah well, theres always going to be the next "big" thing in this industry.
I believe the Gavitas are going to be where its at now.

 

[Kron Don]

Crazy to hear. Im a fan of lumateks. Never had any issues. Not a big fan of quantum. Whats the word on galaxy's?

Galaxys aren't very good either buddy. I WAS a supporter of Lumatek until recently, now I'd have to say Quantums and Phantoms for electornics, and you can't go wrong with any Sunlight Supply Magnetic ballast.

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

Galaxys aren't very good either buddy. I WAS a supporter of Lumatek until recently, now I'd have to say Quantums and Phantoms for electornics, and you can't go wrong with any Sunlight Supply Magnetic ballast.

Shop dude as well. During my warehouse days, all we used were lumiees. Never had issues, but companies and their products do change with time. Ive seen quantums come back a couple times but not too often. I agree with the gavita statement. My buddy is rocking them hard right now and everything is looking great. ThankZ for ur input.

 

[nightmarecreature]

I opened the Lumatek up to take a peek inside, it's non-repairable so to speak. All parts are filled with epoxy. I have fixed many things, a big screen TV, computer moniter,I build computers,power supplies, desolder and solder computer boards. It has a slide cover on the bottom, I closed it back up and didn't fuck with it. If it was out of warranty, I would have taken the epoxy off and went to work with my volt meter. You'd be surprised at some of the things I have found from manufacturers. My big screen TV had such a poor soldering job, the power wire fell off the circuit board.

 

[waayne]

You know guys I tossed out dozens of old magnetic style ballasts when I switched over to the Lumateks
some were 25-30 years old and I thought it was time to get up to date with the new digital style ballasts

That was one of the dumbest decisions I've ever made,I'd nearly give my left nut to have all those old magnetic ballast back now....:)

baba I haven't tried the Solis TEKS
I've been told they're awesome but I have no personal experience with them

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

Wayne i did the same exact thing..... kissed those magnetics goodbye...i thought i was the coolest... not gonna lie, my ballast board looked DOPE when it was full if that beautiful color purple (lumies) haha.

 

[nightmarecreature]

Do the mags interfere with wireless internet? You can make your own mag ballast. I have only run the digital but my wireless internet acted weird when my Lumatek was nearby.

 

[waayne]

TheoneandonlyZ I was pretty taken with those cool purple anodized babies as well
I just wished they worked as good as they look:)

mine have all failed in the same manner ,a short which pops my circuit breaker
and if you reset it ,they will just blow it again immediately when you plug it back in

When I have been working around them when they've failed, I always smell a little of that sickly toxic, electrical fire type smell

 

[CelticEBE]

A few years ago I had purchased some lumateks from stealitback. Well they interfered with my cool box so I called lumatek and they shipped out two new ones to me.

Last year I had one die on me and hydro store replaced...then and there.

My biggest complaint is the new air cooled 1ks dont have a 750couch setting.

 

[Theoneandonly Z]

TheoneandonlyZ I was pretty taken with those cool purple anodized babies as well
I just wished they worked as good as they look:)

mine have all failed in the same manner ,a short which pops my circuit breaker
and if you reset it ,they will just blow it again immediately when you plug it back in

When I have been working around them when they've failed, I always smell a little of that sickly toxic, electrical fire type smell

U can just call me Z;) this is all good info for i am about to add additional lighting to my micro. Rocking all 600's these days. Waayne, any experience with gavitas? I would be just using the ballast, not the hood/bulb combo.Z

 

[nightmarecreature]

This company is full of shit! I have been trying to get ahold of them for 3 days now. They don't answer the phone or emails! Their customer service is a nightmare! I will not be buying another ballast from them again. Who knows when they will decide to answer their phone!

 

[altitudefarmer]

Digital ballasts are like Ferraris; expensive, awesome performance, but when something goes wrong, good luck getting it fixed.
Magnetic ballasts are like old hot rods; pop the hood and replace the cap or ignitor and you're back on the drag strip in no time.

 

[waayne]

U can just call me Z;) this is all good info for i am about to add additional lighting to my micro. Rocking all 600's these days. Waayne, any experience with gavitas? I would be just using the ballast, not the hood/bulb combo.Z

Theoneandonly Z I do not have any experience with Gavitas, I've heard good things about them from friends ,etc ,but I've had no experience
with them personally.

Digital ballasts are like Ferraris; expensive, awesome performance, but when something goes wrong, good luck getting it fixed.
Magnetic ballasts are like old hot rods; pop the hood and replace the cap or ignitor and you're back on the drag strip in no time.

+1 ^^^
good to see you around homie:)

 

[mayonnaise]

Galaxys aren't very good either buddy. I WAS a supporter of Lumatek until recently, now I'd have to say Quantums and Phantoms for electornics, and you can't go wrong with any Sunlight Supply Magnetic ballast.

def agree phantoms for my digital i have owned alot of different ballasts and the phantoms have never let me down yet. it's been hit or miss with other companies but it seems like if they can make it through a year they keep trucking forever. I have a friend that bought 8 1k lumateks many years ago and never a hickup. I personally have burned up at least 6 lumateks. just my 2 cents.

 

[Kron Don]

Electronic ballasts have that thick resin coating so the frequencies do not interfere with our at home eletricals, i.e. (computers, tvs, radios, microwaves, ect.) and you cannot replace them. Unfortunately Nightmare just by opening up your ballast, whether its electronic or magnetic voids the warranty all together so better hope they don't look to much into it. Not trying to be a pessimist I just know how the business works. I know a couple people working on swapping out their electronics for Gavitas, Ill talk to them next time I see them, they have all the technical info for them so I will see if they are willing to share the love.