Digital Ballasts And Lumens/lux?

[trichomedome]

A quick report on digital ballasts and the pros and cons.

I was given one to trial in November, I have to say I was thrilled as I have watched the development of electronic ballasts for some ten years. The reliability factor was my main concern, as the failer rate was an issue. Now it seems this has finally been overcome enough for them to be guaranteed for 3 or even 5 years.

Ok how did it perform? The first thing is the absolute silence from he ballast, when switched on the light just glows and gently brightens to full light over about a minute, the only sound is the odd tinkle of warming glass, its eerie.

For the trial I used a 600w unit over a 4 x 4 x 9 ft h area with B/W curtains on 3 sides, with 350 m3h extraction and passive intake. So a 16 square ft footprint, ie 37.5 w lighting each sq ft, 36 plants [2.25 plants per sq ft] in 6 litre pots. The growth of the plants was better than the same clone lines grown under 1kw of mixed coil and core lighting over the same area.

So these lights do just what is claimed of them as far as light output in concerned, not only that but the plants seem to really like the quality of the light. To explain two things are noticeably different, 1. the spectrum is better. 2. absolutely no perceptible flicker.

To explain for those who ask how the lamp gives more light, its pretty simple, hid lights are arcs, with a coil and core ballast the arc strikes on and off at a 50 cycle/hertz frequency per second ie the light is flashing, from nothing, arc building, maximum, arc decaying, to nothing a 100 times a second. With an electronic supply the arc voltage is supplied at a very high frequency while it is still flashing it is to all purposes very like a direct current flowing through the arc tube ie a continuous arc.

So we gain every way, coil and core ballasts use about 650 watts average over 12 hrs when new, but the current use rises as it gets older ie a 5 year old ballast can be using over 700w but give less light. The electronic ballast uses 635w for the life of the product.

Now the cons and there is only one that I can see, but hell it is a big one.

One of our members contacted me early in the new year asking if I had any problems with radio interference, I said no I have a radio on fm playing music plugged in next to the ballast, nothing, no problem. He replied saying try the medium waveband, I did, a loud buzz that covers the entire medium and the bottom end of the long wave band, the signal was so strong that I could only tune in to 2 stations and even then the interference was still in the background.

I found an old tranny with batteries and walked round the house, how far did this transmission go, I needed to know. Well it was every where, three floors down in the back extension, in the garden just as bad.

I checked in the car and my light was producing a big enough signal to still be heard on the med wave band a quarter to half a kilometre radius of my house.

It had to go in the middle of the trial. I live in a densely populated city, being covert, growers need to keep their head below the parapet, haveing a light that acts like a radio beacon for the DTI scanning for pirate radio to find, is not IMHO being covert.

I got the unit checked out, the ballast and the screened lead to the lamp had zero emissions, the reflector had very small emissions above it, mainly it was the actual lamp arc tube creating the emissions, but also the short pieces of unscreened wire to the lamp holder were transmitting, but over 95% was the lamp. The reflector was doing what it does with light concentrating the radio waves downwards, so the higher up you have he lamp the further it will transmit to the area around it.

I was using a lumatek ballast but I have now had reports of the same problem with other makes including the ones sold in the uk420 store.

Personally until such time as this problem is fixed I will not consider useing one again as I consider the risk to great.

All the best Ot1.

Hi ot1 reading your article on radio waves i was thinking if that is the case then why dont you try making a mini faraday cage that should hi jack any radio waves in theory ? I,m going to try and tune into it and take it from there. If there is anything worth reporting i,ll put it in asap. CR

I,ve just noticed this is 6 yrs old

Edited August 29, 2011 by cantregister

[abbrev]

Interesting stuff, glad I read that, otherwise I may have swapped out a perfectly working magnetic ballast for digi ballast I'd yet have to buy. Yay me, saved another 150 bucks of useless expenses today

[scraglor]

line your grow room with mesh or foil (dull side out prevents hotspots and will give an excellent reflective surface for the walls of your grow room) and earth it and you should reduce your rf emmissions to virtually nothing

[Saddam]

Best to wear tinfoil on your head imo.

[abbrev]

and sometimes I do a rain dance in my homebox, just in case

[gwickmilloer]

I am currently using the new digital ballasts (2) You can make them produce addition lumens by pushing the on/off switch one more stop. However, I chose to use the new ballasts because they dropped my monthly electric bill by about 25% and keep the switch at normal power.

PS: mine are in the basement all electric equipment is below ground level. I have NO radio/TV signal problems or has the CIA come over and made passes in my area.

Edited October 6, 2012 by gwickmilloer

[powerband]

Any updates on the digi ballasts and Medium Wave interference at all? Was looking at these modern dimmable digi ballasts as opposed to the old "work horse" ballasts that I have always used myself...

Be setting up again some time this year and I have time to think things out. I'm wondering whether to just stick to what I know? As someone said to me... " more parts means faster breakdown "

Made interesting reading this thread as no one mentioned MV radio problems to me at all?

[Ital]

I am just about to plug in a Electronic Lumatek Ballast but read this and got me worried.

If anyone is using one please can you let the forum know if you are having any problems with radio signal interference?

thanks in advance.

[VibratingBallast]

I am just about to plug in a Electronic Lumatek Ballast but read this and got me worried.

If anyone is using one please can you let the forum know if you are having any problems with radio signal interference?

thanks in advance.

Bump , I need to know too before i buy ... If Not looks like its gonna be cfl all the way cos i cant stand my magnetic its getting binned tomorrow .

[scraglor]

Iec plug and socket and you can get them.from bnq or any other place that sells electrical components generally

[Ital]

Today I've just did a complete test on a Lumitek ballast, purple model, with both a car radio and an AM radio.

Basically I have tried all the settings: 400,400+,600,600+.

With the ballast off my car radio picked 29 channels ranging from barely audible to crystal clear.

With the ballast on and going through all the settings of the ballast I could still hear all the channels and most were the same level of clarity.

What was really noticeable was the hum/buzz. At one point I left the car 'buzzing' at a reasonable volume went inside and turned the ballast off , it was noticeable how much noise it had created. Had me a little worried as I was in and out of doors, fiddling with the radio and buzzing in more ways than one .

As soon as I turned the AM radio on it was buzzing like a mother so didn't bother going through all the settings on the ballast, it confirmed what I already knew.

The idea of a digital ballast makes perfect sense. Its more efficient, longer lasting, more options with bulbs but until I have the peace of mind that it does not interfere with radio signals I will use a standard ballast.

Good luck with your choice people, I'm sure many of you love up your digital ballasts but right now they are not for me.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Ital B