Digital vs Magnetic

grownbykane said:

the heat difference is less than you think. digital ballasts have cooling fans, so they are far cooler to the touch.

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Not all of them....

All of my lumateks have been sealed (they do make an AC option, friend has it does exactly what I said as follows) . Air cooled ballasts are a faux fix, the heat still has to go somewhere from the ballast, for alot of people thats directly back into their grow room. Plus youre dragging shit tons of dust across the ballast board and internals.

Ive owned 3 1k lumateks and 6 600w lumateks and have never had a failure over the course of 7 years just about. Get what you want, if its worth a grain of salt the manufacturer will stand by it.

(Reason ive gone through so many ballasts is moving, contract growing for someone else who kept the equipment, upgrades, etc)

This is my magnetic ballast




This is my digital

Ibex said:

Not all of them....

All of my lumateks have been sealed (they do make an AC option, friend has it does exactly what I said as follows) . Air cooled ballasts are a faux fix, the heat still has to go somewhere from the ballast, for alot of people thats directly back into their grow room. Plus youre dragging shit tons of dust across the ballast board and internals.

Ive owned 3 1k lumateks and 6 600w lumateks and have never had a failure over the course of 7 years just about. Get what you want, if its worth a grain of salt the manufacturer will stand by it.

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I just got the switchable Lumatek 1,000 watt. I can hear the fan, but I also keep the ballast out of the room, and I can hear the scrubber fans regardless. Luckily for me, noise isn't an issue, it helps keep the neighborhood noises at bay. It's a lot more peaceful here now that I've been growing.

I heard there were reliability issues with the Lumitek, after I bought one of course...

ProdigalSun said:

I just got the switchable Lumatek 1,000 watt. I can hear the fan
I heard there were reliability issues with the Lumitek, after I bought one of course...

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The Air cooled is still dimmable...

I can assure you there is no fan in a sealed ballast.





See the difference?

I wasn't saying that there was a fan in it. I have the one on the bottom.

Has anyone mentioned the frequency in which the ballast operates? has to do with less flicker (stroboscopic effect).
Higher frequency less flicker and all around better light.
Mag ballasts operate at 50-60 hertz, digital ballasts operate at from somewhere around 20-67 kilohertz.

It's little things like that all rolled up together that make a GOOD digital ballast what it is.
Another upgrade that would improve the quality of light would be a double ended lamp.
a minor little detail but still it ends up meaning something .
Unless we are lighting engineers there are probably a lot of things not taken into consideration when thinking about the quality of light produced by a certain setup.

ProdigalSun said:

I just got the switchable Lumatek 1,000 watt. I can hear the fan

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ProdigalSun said:

I wasn't saying that there was a fan in it. I have the one on the bottom.

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The top picture is the sealed non air cooled with no fan, the bottom picture is the air cooled with a fan, both are dimmable. We are on the same page, no?

Ibex said:

The top picture is the sealed non air cooled with no fan, the bottom picture is the air cooled with a fan, both are dimmable. We are on the same page, no?

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Lumatek is one digital I stay away from. They are notorious for high thd and if I remember right a lot of rfi.
Other than that the only thing I have against them is I saw a fuckload of lumatek returns at the hydro shop I frequent. Most had melted plastic part and I've renamed them Lumaflame.

dbkick said:

It's little things like that all rolled up together that make a GOOD digital ballast what it is.

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Soft starts are supposed to be easier on the bulb as well but this is not a lumatek specific characteristic. Do magnetic ballasts have a cut off for short circuits?

"The Lumatek is programmed for a 'soft-start' and does not require an initial surge of power to light the lamp."

To each their own but I have never had an issue with any of mine. Its always word of mouth and I havnt met anyone with a busted lumatek. Please speak up if you have personally had one die.

Lumatek's THD is <8%
http://www.lumatekballast.com/products/ballasts/

Ibex said:

Soft starts are supposed to be easier on the bulb as well but this is not a lumatek specific characteristic. Do magnetic ballasts have a cut off for short circuits?

"The Lumatek is programmed for a 'soft-start' and does not require an initial surge of power to light the lamp."

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I'm buying nothing but solis tek matrix since I got my first one. I've since added one but still haven't even hooked it up (seems like room upgrade is more work than the actual growing). Solis takes the soft start a bit further and adds sequential firing if you have multiple ballast coming on at the same time, solis tek matrix play well together and start sequentially . I like the ignition control software of the matrix.Built in timer. 230 bux and you can pop in any wattage 400/600/1000 and fire it up, the ballast starts it at the proper wattage.
They also operate at 67 khz .

dbkick said:

I'm buying nothing but solis tek matrix

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Ill have to check them out. Im not saying lumateks are the best, I dont have the personal experience to make such claims, I just know that non of mine have failed and the mmj comp I worked (have pics of warehouse rooms) for used a literal shit ton of lumateks between all their warehouses with no failures. Personally I am up to 3 1k's and 6 600's all lumatek's sealed over the course of my whole career.

Either way it hangs I still vote Digital > Magnetic.

Keep warm, its a cold one tonight

No one has mentioned the RFI that some digital ballasts put out.
There's been more than 1 knock on peoples doors by the cable companies for interference.

No one has mentioned the RFI that some digitals put out. There's been many a knock on peoples door by the cable co. for interference.
Sorry, dont k.ow why it double posted.

Ibex said:

Soft starts are supposed to be easier on the bulb as well but this is not a lumatek specific characteristic. Do magnetic ballasts have a cut off for short circuits?

"The Lumatek is programmed for a 'soft-start' and does not require an initial surge of power to light the lamp."

To each their own but I have never had an issue with any of mine. Its always word of mouth and I havnt met anyone with a busted lumatek. Please speak up if you have personally had one die.

Lumatek's THD is <8%
http://www.lumatekballast.com/products/ballasts/

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With the new ones I can believe they did something for thd and rfi IF there were a problem. I really have no way of checking those things myself.....but then I do actually. a AM radio and a welders mask to watch the flow of gases in arc tube. If you can see the swirl ( hortilux hps you can't, I assume because the arc tube is so small in diameter. But with a MH I'd think you could look at the swirl and see turbulence in it which is where the thd comes in.
But I was basing the thd (and they stated 300 + percent with their lamps, sunpulse so...)of the lumatek on older info/hardware
If the didn't address those issues they'd soon be out of business but then maybe not because a lot of people figure if a lamp fires it's all good to go.

ProdigalSun said:

What do you use, and what are the pros and cons?

I heard that digital is brighter and quieter, while magnetic is cheaper and more reliable.

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You pretty much summed it up already.

One thing to think about is actual light output.
Growershouse did a test of a bunch of different 1000w digital ballast...and also one mag in the test. Every digital out performed the mag by over 20%. I know it isn't the best mag, but 20% is a lot of light to be missing out on.



Basically impossible to see so go here...http://growershouse.com/blog/1000w-digital-ballast-comparison-review-par-test-footprint-results-lumatek-solis-tek-quantum-phantom-galaxy-nano/

dbkick said:

I'm buying nothing but solis tek matrix since I got my first one. I've since added one but still haven't even hooked it up (seems like room upgrade is more work than the actual growing). Solis takes the soft start a bit further and adds sequential firing if you have multiple ballast coming on at the same time, solis tek matrix play well together and start sequentially . I like the ignition control software of the matrix.Built in timer. 230 bux and you can pop in any wattage 400/600/1000 and fire it up, the ballast starts it at the proper wattage.
They also operate at 67 khz .

Click to expand...

I'm going to put my vote for mag, even though I so badly wanted to take the leap to digital.

I've seen you speaking highly of solis-tek matrix ballasts and their lack of RF interference in previous posts. I just got one from growershouse and the second I fired it up I realized it obliterated the AM stations with this alien-communication-sounding zapping noise. It was identical to the static noise that emanates audibly from the ballast itself only amplified and coming out the AM radio speaker.

Setup is (all brand new):
Solis-tek matrix (1000w) dimmed to 600w,
600w solis-tek HPS bulb,
Sunlight Supply Blockbuster reflector.

Solis-Tek support has been very friendly and helpful and has acknowledged the issue. Apparently it's not news to them and they are "working on a fix" which will likely be a replacement ballast for those affected (or complaining) about the RF issues.
For now their solution is to stick a ferrite core on my radio's power line. I guess I'll hand out ferrite split beads to all my neighbors and HAM operators as well.

I bought the matrix to not attract unwanted attention or disrupt comms and due to this issue I wont be firing it back up any time soon. Looks like I should have bought the Phantom which is at least FCC (part 18 ) compliant and certified. If anybody has a new phantom please chime in with your experiences.

XavierFernandez said:

I'm going to put my vote for mag, even though I so badly wanted to take the leap to digital.

I've seen you speaking highly of solis-tek matrix ballasts and their lack of RF interference in previous posts. I just got one from growershouse and the second I fired it up I realized it obliterated the AM stations with this alien-communication-sounding zapping noise. It was identical to the static noise that emanates audibly from the ballast itself only amplified and coming out the AM radio speaker.

Setup is (all brand new):
Solis-tek matrix (1000w) dimmed to 600w,
600w solis-tek HPS bulb,
Sunlight Supply Blockbuster reflector.

Solis-Tek support has been very friendly and helpful and has acknowledged the issue. Apparently it's not news to them and they are "working on a fix" which will likely be a replacement ballast for those affected (or complaining) about the RF issues.
For now their solution is to stick a ferrite core on my radio's power line. I guess I'll hand out ferrite split beads to all my neighbors and HAM operators as well.

I bought the matrix to not attract unwanted attention or disrupt comms and due to this issue I wont be firing it back up any time soon. Looks like I should have bought the Phantom which is at least FCC (part 1 compliant and certified. If anybody has a new phantom please chime in with your experiences.

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Hmmm, no wonder the price drop :/
Never tested mine for rfi and took someone else's word for it. It's not an issue with me.
how much for the matrix???

I paid $220.49+ship with a free remote. I've got 3 hours on the ballast (it reads 1 because I believe its a x10 scale on the odometer) trying to troubleshoot the issue. I'm hoping to return it for credit towards a new mag and some other junk. Maybe I'll trade it for a phantom and try that.

I'm going to contact Hydrofarm regarding the phantom to clear some things up first before I try and proceed with the exchange. I understand the Phantom powers up "full" and then once the bulb is fully lit, it dims to your desired setting. That's a dealbreaker when running a 600w bulb their 1000w ballast if "full" to them means 1000w.

I noticed the price drop and thats what made me bite. I can only hope that the next shopper finds my comments here and realizes there are definitely still issues with the Matrix and RFI/EMI

How far away did you get noise?