does the lightwave come with any guarente? MH/HPS capable? Looks like a lumatek.

Ye 3 years guarantee, and HPS/MH compatible.

Greetings to all contributors on uk420.

My first post - many to follow...

I've been mulling over the lightwave ballast for a few days and from what I've read so far it looks promising.

Now my newly built grow room is 2mx1mx0.6m in size. I have a 120mm cooltube but yet to buy my lamps and ballast.

Would a 600w be overkill in a room of this size and a 400w more suitable. The grow room has recirculating fresh air ventilation, but would a 400w be better suited given the size.

Also I've been looking at the grolux dual lamps. Should I stick to an MH/HPS combo rather than one of these duals or are they the real deal?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

600w are meant to be the most efficient.

I have been using the grolux dual spectrum bulb, but never used anything else so i cant compare.

Or should I just order the lumatek from greens?

I went for the 600w lumatek in the end with a sunmaster lamp. Fired it all up earlier and was most impressed. Now I just have to finish my recirculating bubbler then it's grow time

I bought a lumatek 250 w, it's good stuff. About the superlumenswitch, i am not sure that it's not just a gadget !

Well I bought a lumatek, can't say it's really any brighter than my magnetic one or cooler I'd say the ballast feels about as hot.

One thing I suppose though the ballast is 1/4 the size so that's got to be less heat and the lack of flicker leads me to believe I must be getting 10% more light for my cash.

Need to hook power meter up to both ballasts next.

I emailed Lumatek about 1000w ballasts



Where can i get 750w lamps and ballasts from?

Ultimately I'm happy with the purchase but I'd say buying a new one get a digi got a working one already maybe not such a pressing need to replace the kit.

iv just tested my new lumitek 400 watt ballast and the gome into the other room and tried to listen to mw and there was loads of interferance just a loud buzz on 2 differant parts of the spectrum i thought this might be my ballast so i switched the light off and the buzz went away, worryingly so
so tomorrow im going to test the distance of the interferance if its to bad im gutted as iv just brought the ballast and 3 pulse start halide bulbs that need an e ballast to run them just to find out i stan out like a radio beacon (not what i want as i live in a suburban area with lots of old people living around me
one thing that makes me feel better is that t6here must be thousands of people using these ballasts in the uk and it doesnt seem like there are loads of them getting busted due to the emisions and there are i know loads of people in my area that have brought and are using these ballasts and are still shopping at the gro store many months latter without any probs so hopefully all will be well with me using mine

Anyone ever heard of a euro bright digital ballast?

Do please let us know. If it is a big problem, it may only be a faulty unit. Lumatek is really good about replacing such units.

I get interference within 10 foot or so of the ballast but a wall or even a thin door cuts that to 0, Lumatek 600w ballast


I have a plasma cutter High Frequency arc and when I use that I've been told I wipe out all the sky dishes on my street.

I use it at work only now.

my 42" plasma knocks out any radio broadcasts within 6 houses distance. there's plenty of things that cause interference tbh, i wouldn't worry about it. it depends a lot on what sort of electrical system your house is on. if it's a TT system, where you have an RCD at your distribution board (although all new builds will have these regardless, thanks to the idiots in h&s ) then interference will be worse, as the shielding conducts the interference to earth, and houses on TT systems generally have a very high resistance to earth (hence the need for an RCD) so if you're on this kind of system then you'll get interference with any kind of high frequency device. telly's, microwaves, discharge lighting, computers, etc etc

So is it true? I havent read the whole thread but was thinking of upgrading my ballasts for my next run...

I need two 400w (MH) and two 600w (HPS. Preferably dual operational..

How does a digi ballast produce more lumen from the same lamp? Whats the price like for these?

So far from reading up, lumatek are pretty much the shit when it comes to going digi right?

Cheers!

You buy a digi ballast to improve the quality of your equipment, not your yeild...Unless your old ballast is a really awful or broken I doubt you'll get anything bar a pacebo effect on your plants? Shouldnt do anyway?

I've looked into this as I need a new ballast, I will just be buying normal ballasts from greens. I can buy two for the price of 1 digital...

So a report on the NextGen then. It's fine but one of the tiny fans has started to rub on something, making a most annoying whirring noise. Since it is only 7 months, I will probably take it in and upgrade to a 600W MH/HPS. I wasn't so happy with the stockiness of my last veg tent experience and am hoping that a 600W will make a bigger bang.



True. One of those improvements is a more consistent output over time. This is very valuable.

Thats a point, I've absolutely no idea if or how much a normal ballast degrades.....

Read this topic and look for posts by scraglor. He is our resident electrical engineer.

I've got an old spare Philips 400w ballast, that needs an ignitor and a shade.
I can't find an ignitor but found a: Timed Super Imposed Pulse Electronic Ignitors HPS for £30 inc p+p.
I can get a shade for £20 and I have a few brand new bulbs.
This would cost me £50 for an extra light, or I can buy a new ballast/reflector for £60/70.
What is my best option?
Would the electronic ignitor make a difference?

Cheers PH

Hi Paul. You are posting this question in the wrong forum. You're talking C&C ballasts and this forum is for digital/electronically controlled ballasts. I've asked the mods to move your question to a more appropriate forum. Mostly as you will get quicker answers to your question. scraglor is our resident electrical engineer and is of great help here.





On the ICan site there is a big discussion on Lumateks melting their power cords (and timers hooked up to them). This appears to be a 1K/120V issue. Do a google for lumateks, fire.

Be safe people. Knowledge is power.

e2a:

I run 3, 600W/120V Lumateks on one circuit (with a contactor). No issues. However I do use a small fan to blow on all 3 ballasts. The air flow is aimed right at where the power connectors plug into the ballast. Seems like my intuition was spot on!

Thanks Randalizer, with it being an electronic ignitor I thought I'd sneak it in

Yeah, be careful with fire mate, safety first, good thinking

Giving up on that old ballast

Just spotted a digital ballast can switch between 400 and 600 watts, it looks the business with reflector and 600w Grolux lamp for 100 quid free delivery and not fleabay!

anybody elses lightwave 6oow digi ballasts make their laptop touch pad a bit nervous/jumpy? its deff the ballast doing it as its fine with it off...

I have other rf issues with the ballast but it intefering with the laptop touchpad ia a bit strange...or maybe not?

im going to build a high pass filter for the digi ballasts when i install them permanently also gonna build some nice screened cables when I get around to it

Hi im just curious to what was wrong with the B.A.L digital 600w? i just ordered 3 of these i was always led to belive that they were/are very good.
What problems did you have with yours?