Mag ballast verses digital

fluffygrrrl · Dec 11, 2011

I've gone through 4 digital ballasts this year. 2 were under warranty (1 year old), I bought them at plantlightingsupply, so it took awhile to get them back. The other 1 was a quantum I bought on ebay, and the other one was a no name chinese knockoff from ebay. No warranties on either one. I'm done fooling around with digitals until they get better at fixing their overheating issues. I need to buy 10 new ballasts, I wish my hydro store sold the mags for $100. My store charges $210 for them! Im looking at the cap brand that has a lifetime warranty $175 each on plantlightingsupply. They also sell a cheaper model for 115 plus shipping, but I kind of like the idea of a lifetime warranty. Does anyone have any better prices or know of a place that gives discounts for multiple purchases?

Venom818 · Dec 11, 2011

Wheezy said:
Mag uses more power = FALSE
Digi produces more light = TRUE
Digi is quieter = FALSE if it's a quantum

FACT, "they" know you have a digi ballast in your house. Go mag. Or, I'll sell you a TWO DAY old Quantum after two guys came knocking on my door yesterday asking to come in and "troubleshoot" my house.

maybe u got a bad quantum,my quantum runs way quieter than my mag ballast

baba G · Dec 11, 2011

fluffygrrrl said:
I've gone through 4 digital ballasts this year. 2 were under warranty (1 year old), I bought them at plantlightingsupply, so it took awhile to get them back. The other 1 was a quantum I bought on ebay, and the other one was a no name chinese knockoff from ebay. No warranties on either one. I'm done fooling around with digitals until they get better at fixing their overheating issues. I need to buy 10 new ballasts, I wish my hydro store sold the mags for $100. My store charges $210 for them! Im looking at the cap brand that has a lifetime warranty $175 each on plantlightingsupply. They also sell a cheaper model for 115 plus shipping, but I kind of like the idea of a lifetime warranty. Does anyone have any better prices or know of a place that gives discounts for multiple purchases?

Have a heart to heart talk with your hydro shop and see if they will work with you on your ballast pricing? I mean then if you need support or warranty work you go straight to them instead of dealing with ebay or no warranty or some website where your shipping stuff all day....imo
I know the retail msrp on ballasts are less, they have affordable ballasts and sunlight supply has a ballast for 175 and a cheaper one for msrp 154.95. And I don't think anyone pays retail msrp, typically you'll get a discount off that price.
After you have actually had a real digital experience, like name brand from a reputable store versus knockoffs with no warranty, I'll take your advice.
I Have many digital ballys, all working on multiple years, Quantum kicks ass and you can get them online for $233 at vminnovations.com after using a coupon code. Warranty included...but no batteries:sun

5ecret 5quirrel · Apr 19, 2013

lighter, cooler, quieter and dim-able(digi) shorter life span, digi’s are cheaper to manufacture.

coil will last a life time. (i’ve heard they are easier on bulbs but i’m clueless)

Classic Remix · Apr 19, 2013

Quantum 600 online - 139

1k - 189

Not steep at all. Mags would be almost that anyways

d420dool · Apr 19, 2013

yo baba i kno exactly what ur talkin bout with the cable company man isnt that wierd. my tv had a bad connection where the cable screws on so the wire was picking up the frequency of my humboldt micromole 600 and causin probs for people up and down my street for like a half mile in each direction, i look outside one day and see a guy in my yard with a laptop then he knocks and says they pinpointed the prob to my place and so we went downstairs and figured out that it was the line going to my room and as soon as we disconnected it it was all good, luckily the next day another cable guy came over that i knew and smoked with before and he told me that this almost never happens and that i got lucky, i imagine u get the wrong cable guy findin out whats up and u could have probs but its all good now i only watch movies and games in my room now. venom i just read ur post up there bout the 2 guys troubleshootin, thats exactly what happened to me man, thats the story i just typed, the wierdest part of this whole thin is the next dar or thew day after there was a black heli with a lightning rod lookin thing comin out the nose and they turned around and went over and around my house nice and low and slow 4 times in about 20 min, prior to this they were doin a GRID if ya kno what i mean when i saw them i turned my ballst off and it seamed throw them off cuz it was like they were trying to pinpoint my digi signal, am i right or just too paranoid, what yall think

Underground · Apr 20, 2013

You can get the mag ballast from an electrical supply store for much less money. Especially if you build your own enclosure. Yes mags use more power, create more noise, and run hotter. A mag ballast will output same freq as input. A digi will output whatever it's rated. So if your digi is 200MHz for example, the output will be limited far less. You can't pick it up with your eye, but any conventional light is actually turning on/off 60 times per second. Well, the voltage is reaching 0 volts 60 times per second anyway. Many digital waveforms look like squares instead of sinewaves too. Meaning the entire time it's not at 0, it is at the max. The mags will be a regular sinewave which progresses up to peak and back down to 0. This is why many times digital power supplies are more effecient. When you have the same load but less voltage, the current increases. If the waveform is square, you are always at higher voltage. The period between peak voltage and 0 that is usually increasing or decreasing is constant.

KUSHPILES · Apr 22, 2013

I use mag ballasts. I dont' care what anybody says about the efficiency advantages are from digital. I think the whole digital thing is just marketing to make bucks..

I have 16 ballasts running 24/7 and they cost me 10 bucks each used. There are tons of used parts for 1000 watt mag ballasts around where I am, so we have anything we need standing by if a cap or something needs to be replaced, which has only happened once. (capacitor failed) They are so simple to fix/replace/mount, plus I don't have to deal with warrantee BS and waiting for the store to send it away.

This is coming from someone who needs a bunch of them to keep rolling, if your only buying 1 and your super low key, a pretty red or purple digital ballast would do the trick just fine if ya wanna drop 250+..

KUSHPILES · Apr 22, 2013

Next time your in a grow store ask what kind of used stuff they have kickin around. The stores in my town usually always have something interesting. Thats how we sniped the 5 ton heat pump..1500 bucks. The thing is awesome-pushes out way more than 5 tons when the water cools down. My first show was all used ballasts and bulbs right from one of the stores in town.

5ecret 5quirrel · Apr 22, 2013

KUSHPILES said:
I use mag ballasts. I dont' care what anybody says about the efficiency advantages are from digital. I think the whole digital thing is just marketing to make bucks..

I have 16 ballasts running 24/7 and they cost me 10 bucks each used. There are tons of used parts for 1000 watt mag ballasts around where I am, so we have anything we need standing by if a cap or something needs to be replaced, which has only happened once. (capacitor failed) They are so simple to fix/replace/mount, plus I don't have to deal with warrantee BS and waiting for the store to send it away.

This is coming from someone who needs a bunch of them to keep rolling, if your only buying 1 and your super low key, a pretty red or purple digital ballast would do the trick just fine if ya wanna drop 250+..

Agreed! When i pick electronics, i go with what’s heavier.

DrRabbit · Apr 25, 2013

There's no reason for a holy war over this issue. Not too surprisingly, they're different technologies, with different benefits. If you want greater reliability, but lower efficiency, go electromagnetic. Greater efficiency with less reliability, digital. Crappy products aren't exclusive to either.

Note that heavier electronics aren't necessarily better built. I've worked with computers since the 1970s and the days of punch cards. I've seen enough overly heavy crap to last a lifetime. Here's why we see differences in the performance of these products. The anticipated pattern of failures should be quite different.

A significant proportion of electronic failures will occur during the first 90 days of operation, so it can lead to impressions of short product lifetimes. Mechanical failures usually fall at the product's anticipated service life, usually measured as MTBF (mean time between failure). Of course, this assumes uniform product quality. And we all know there are just some crappy products out there, but usually they cluster at the low-cost end of the spectrum.

If you ever can get your hands on actual MTBF information, you can make well-informed purchasing decisions. There should be an expressed MTBF target used when designing and testing the product. Sometimes this is expressed in a products documentation or can be obtained via contact center.

5ecret 5quirrel · Apr 26, 2013

DrRabbit said:
There's no reason for a holy war over this issue. Not too surprisingly, they're different technologies, with different benefits. If you want greater reliability, but lower efficiency, go electromagnetic. Greater efficiency with less reliability, digital. Crappy products aren't exclusive to either.

Note that heavier electronics aren't necessarily better built. I've worked with computers since the 1970s and the days of punch cards. I've seen enough overly heavy crap to last a lifetime. Here's why we see differences in the performance of these products. The anticipated pattern of failures should be quite different.

A significant proportion of electronic failures will occur during the first 90 days of operation, so it can lead to impressions of short product lifetimes. Mechanical failures usually fall at the product's anticipated service life, usually measured as MTBF (mean time between failure). Of course, this assumes uniform product quality. And we all know there are just some crappy products out there, but usually they cluster at the low-cost end of the spectrum.

If you ever can get your hands on actual MTBF information, you can make well-informed purchasing decisions. There should be an expressed MTBF target used when designing and testing the product. Sometimes this is expressed in a products documentation or can be obtained via contact center.

what’s considered a crappy product? so we can all avoid it in the future.

outwest · Apr 26, 2013

Been running phantom digis for 3 years without problems. Digis are way cheaper then when this thread was started, that's for sure!!

outwest

5ecret 5quirrel · May 11, 2013

just came back from trilight factory in hang zhou and they told me that they sell ballast world wide and their match the ballast to the countries power regulations since everyone in different corners of the world have different power wattage, amps, etc.

has anyone here tried to mount a 1000watt coil ballast? wicked heavy. if i was going to build a permeant indoor garden or at least 10 years i would buy a coil ballast.

Mr_GreenGenes · May 12, 2013

Ive used both over the years, and used digis from different companies, Lumateks to Phantoms and about to switch to Solis Tek 1K'ers. The difference between the mag and digis can be seen by the naked eye IMO. Id never go back to mag ballasts.

kushsmoker30 · May 12, 2013

Mr_GreenGenes said:
Ive used both over the years, and used digis from different companies, Lumateks to Phantoms and about to switch to Solis Tek 1K'ers. The difference between the mag and digis can be seen by the naked eye IMO. Id never go back to mag ballasts.

diff can be seen with a simple cell phone camera, tha digi's clear while the mags kinda look like light shining threw mini blinds.....lots of lines going thru

d420dool · May 13, 2013

o no shit thats why those pics look like that interesting, kush

Capulator · May 13, 2013

digi ballasts give off interference... I heard there are rippers who will drive around and look for this interference.

digi ballasts wont run the hortilux super blues.

5ecret 5quirrel · May 14, 2013

all great info

ttystikk · May 14, 2013

kushsmoker30 said:
diff can be seen with a simple cell phone camera, tha digi's clear while the mags kinda look like light shining threw mini blinds.....lots of lines going thru

d420dool said:
o no shit thats why those pics look like that interesting, kush

Capulator said:
digi ballasts give off interference... I heard there are rippers who will drive around and look for this interference.

digi ballasts wont run the hortilux super blues.

These are all results of the same phenomena and do not indicate light loss. Magnetic ballasts run at the same 60Hz as the socket they are plugged into. The lines on the cellphone camera come from interference patterns between this 60 cycle flicker and the shutter speed of the ccd in the camera. Most digis run at up to 50kHz- that's 50,000Hz!, which is why they can shatter the envelopes in HID bulbs not designed for them. This is also the source of Cap's electrical signal that can be picked up by those who know what frequencies to listen for.

The 'badass ballast' and hortilux's own digi both claim to run at 60Hz, just like magnetic ballasts. I'm not the one to ask how this might affect light output, efficiency or durability.

Mag ballast verses digital

Mag ballast verses digital

fluffygrrrl

Venom818

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

5ecret 5quirrel

Classic Remix

d420dool

Underground

KUSHPILES

KUSHPILES

5ecret 5quirrel

DrRabbit

5ecret 5quirrel

outwest

Premium Gardener

5ecret 5quirrel

Mr_GreenGenes

kushsmoker30

d420dool

Capulator

likes to smell trees.

5ecret 5quirrel

ttystikk

Mag ballast verses digital

Mag ballast verses digital

fluffygrrrl

Venom818

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty

5ecret 5quirrel

Classic Remix

d420dool

Underground

KUSHPILES

KUSHPILES

5ecret 5quirrel

DrRabbit

5ecret 5quirrel

outwest

Premium Gardener

5ecret 5quirrel

Mr_GreenGenes

kushsmoker30

d420dool

Capulator

likes to smell trees.

5ecret 5quirrel

ttystikk

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