which digi ballasts will work with a flip flop timer

[strawD]

i'm considering upgrading my garden soon, and a flip flop timer for 2 different flowering rooms is in order. the biggest concern is that many digi ballasts have a "hot start preventer" already in their circuits. its also not good to switch a mag ballast running at full power to a bulb thats not fired up. what ballasts are people using for their room flip flops, or do they have nice flip flop timers that shut the lights off for 30 min in between each cycle?

i know my old lumateks have this feature, and some of the newer brands have it too. anyone know of a brand that is reuptable that specifically does NOT have the hot start prevention? thanks a bunch

 

[cheech]

my 600 watt quantum was making the flip for what seemed like a week or more, but then stopped suddenly. switched it out for a magnetic.

since i only run flip flower rooms i always use mags now.. not to mention i can get a 1000 watt for 150 shipped. i never shut off with my mags. i've been flip flopping 4k every 12 hours for over a year now. i didn't know it was bad for the bulbs, and will have to look into this.

if you want digi ballasts then just shut them off for a minute before the flip... my quantum just needed to be shut off during the flip. not 15 or so minutes to over ride the hot start you mentioned.

the timer for the relays is separate than the timers for the power of the ballasts. just get a cap or powerbox light controller so you can run 240 volt power to your ballasts and set the timer to shut off before your flip then turn on after your flip. plug your relay cords into a power strip that is controlled by a timer and is 12 hours on 12 hours off.

 

[Northwest Skunk]

Two digital timers. One for the balasts, one for the flip flop. Digital timers are the best you can set them both so the times on them are identicle and they come with battery back up in case you have a power outage. The digi timers have multiple "actions" you can set them to do.

Example:
11:59 first timer turns off ballasts(lights go off first room)
12:00 second timer flips the flip flop to switch electrical current to other room.
12:01 first timer turns ballasts back on. (lights on in second room)

It's a beautiful thing.

With the new "super lumen" 1100 watt setting on my lumitek ballasts I'm seeing a big increase in light lumen output compared to magnetic ballasts. Light meters don't lie.

 

[Inuit]

I have used future brite and elux, as well as mag on a flip with no problems ever. Some brands start the bulb immediately, others wait a couple minutes.

What I would do is integrate a power interrupt time(like to prevent lamps from hot starting in a power outage/flicker) delay with the flip. It would recognize the flipping as a power outage and kill the power to the ballast for 10 or 15 min, then back on and you're good.

I

 

[RMCG]

Horti-Control's flip boxes supposedly work with any/all ballasts, digi and mag, even mixed.

I've got one on the way to test out.

 

[Olyver]

I'd be a little leery about what Horticontrol and Powerbox claim about their products. Several stores have started to refuse carrying either of their products do to failures.

 

[RMCG]

I had to swap out my horti flip (LF2) due to a bad relay within a few days, new one is in and running just fine now. Time will tell.

I still want one of yours though.