Future brite ballasts

[Silica]

Im a bit blazed at the moment and ive noticed a few too many ballast posts....but thought id ask if anyones had any troubles with future Brite ballasts.


Ive ordered a few cheap future brite ballasts for half price, thought id sell them if theres any troubles.

If minor i can maybe fix as this site says the only probs are the fuses are sheap fuses, just use slow blows and alls sweet.If so ill keeep em for myself.

But wanted to check for further information thanks.

 

[lime6161]

No complaints from me. Ive got 2. 1000 and a 400 switchable. Been running fine for 3 yrs. both are wall mounted and i think the 1000 runs cooler and is almost silent.

 

[BOSSMAN88188]

I have 2 and hate them both.
Have had 2 replace both of them within first 6 month's.
And then to find out they sent me old model's with no fuse.
The inside are covered in Melted black rubber. So you can not work on them.
The rubber is a good thing it is supposed to dissapate heat.
After waiting over a month for my new one. They told me if I wanted something with a near zero failure rate go with galaxy.So I did.
Galaxy and the best IMO.
I do have a ? for you.
When you started this thread did it bring up 4 other's with the same info.

 

[Silica]

No i didnt search, guess i should have.
Just seen a lot of lumatek type threads and see if any troubles with the ones i ordered.

They have arrived so ill test em out anyway. thanks for the info.

 

[Silica]

It looks like i blew a brand new son tiagro bulb!

I might take the ballasts to a nearby hydro shop and see what bulbs suit.
Or it could be a fuse but it was arcing a bit crazy when i plugged it in then stopped.

 

[TokenZen]

Yea, I had a future-brite and I had problems running the sunmaster bulbs with it, so I stuck with hortilux (Better anyways IMHO). Not sure if I would buy one again probably not, as they can be finicky...

 

[Silica]

It seems to be working, when i was testing it i had the lampholder lead not plugged into ballast. It seems if no power is going to the lamp the ballast will arc and switch off.

I later tried unpowering the ballast and leaving the lamp lead in with the Son T agro lamp in, then plugging in the power and there doesnt seem to be any problems.
It seems to get up to full brightness really quickly (in around 1 minute) rather than 10 mins or so with a magnetic ballast. No arcing if tested this way. I might have not had the lamp lead in properly the first time.

I hope it works when i use it in a setup.