Digital vs Magnetic

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.

I heard digital one's don't last as long and they burn up the bulb faster. If I'm not mistaken you can change the caps in the magnetic ones if it goes bad on you after years of use.

I have owned both mags and digies. I notice zero difference in daily operation. I had a digital ballast burn out after a year, never had a failure with a mag ballast. suposedly digis are 15-20% more efficient on eletricity, but seeing as they cost twice as much or more than mag ballasts you have to run them for 5 years to make your money back. you can also rebuild a mag ballast for cheap, and throw one down a flight of stairs and it will still operate fine.

My first ballast was a Dimmable Digi ballast, and it blew beyond repair on the second week of my second cycle with it. I got a Magnetic after that, and it has been running strong now for 3 years..Some say the Magnetic ones get a lot hotter, but mine will get warm, but not so hot I cant put my hands on the box.

Theyre both the same. I ran a magnetic 400w with a cmh in it and a 600w digital with a hps in it and the only time i had problems or bulbs burn out was because of a defect in the bulb. Havent had a problem/burnt out bulb since then and that was about 2 or 3 years ago.

Magnetic are cheaper, digital are slightly cooler and not too expensive lately.

If youve got the minimal skills needed grab a ballast kit from HTG supply. Theyre like 40 or 50 bucks and all youll need is a power cord and reflector/hood and youre set.

Thats what my 400w magnetic was and its lasted over 4 years give or take before i retired her. I had to make a little box for it to keep it off the table cause it got HOT as fuck. But i still saved a solid 100 bucks buyin one already assembled. Oh! you can get an on/off switch and put in in the middle of the starter and make yourself a switchable hps/mh ballast for next to nothing.

I have both, little discernible difference between the two.

digitals are quieter {no humming noise} are much much lighter..... will burn out after I think 5 years or so...... they get much less hotter....... while magnetic balasts are louder, much much heavier... and will last decades

tip top toker said:

I have both, little discernible difference between the two.

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you don't notice a huge heat difffrence between ballasts? I do

theexpress said:

you don't notice a huge heat difffrence between ballasts? I do

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I was never concerned to the point of checking or comparing. All i recall is that they both ran hot.

I think he means as far as light output, not heat or weight or reliability.

Its always funny when i go to move a box i think weighs nothing cause it has ducting and random shit in it then i go to lift it and it weighs a ton. Only to realize it had my 2 magnetic ballasts in it. haha Damn near ripped through the bottom of the box.

tip top toker said:

I was never concerned to the point of checking or comparing. All i recall is that they both ran hot.

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lol I don't mean the bulb... let them both run a few hours and then touch the actuall ballasts.. you will notice that mag will run much much hotter

theexpress said:

you don't notice a huge heat difffrence between ballasts? I do

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

theexpress said:

lol I don't mean the bulb... let them both run a few hours and then touch the actuall ballasts.. you will notice that mag will run much much hotter

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I don't mean the bulb either Both were very hot.

And as of about 25 seconds ago, i picked both up, and they feel near identical in weight.

With regard to the above post, my digi does not have a fan.

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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ummm no its not... the heat from a mag ballast is farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr greater then one from a digital ballast... again I mean ballast not the actual fucking hps bulb... that's why if most people use mag ballasts they much prefer to keep the ballast out the actual grow room/area I have a 250 watt hps mag ballast grow light I started growing with over 13 years ago... and it gets much hotter then the 1k watt digi ballasts I was running

tip top toker said:

I don't mean the bulb either Both were very hot.

And as of about 25 seconds ago, i picked both up, and they feel near identical in weight.

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hold on brb... maybe its that u have a much new model hps ballast then me... ima take a pic of what im talking about brb

theexpress said:

hold on brb... maybe its that u have a much new model hps ballast then me... ima take a pic of what im talking about brb

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Or alternatively some ballasts differ from others. I've seen digi ballasts that looks VERY different to mine.

Digi at the front, mag at the back.



Both become too hot to pick up whilst turned on for a prolonged period of time.

tip top toker said:

Or alternatively some ballasts differ from others. I've seen digi ballasts that looks VERY different to mine.

Digi at the front, mag at the back.

View attachment 2919166

Both become too hot to pick up whilst turned on for a prolonged period of time.

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mine is way different then urs... my shit weighs like close to 50 pounds... if I dropped it on ur face from chest high it would kill u.. I took the pics but my cam is being a bitch bare with me..

theexpress said:

ummm no its not... the heat from a mag ballast is farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr greater then one from a digital ballast... again I mean ballast not the actual fucking hps bulb... that's why if most people use mag ballasts they much prefer to keep the ballast out the actual grow room/area I have a 250 watt hps mag ballast grow light I started growing with over 13 years ago... and it gets much hotter then the 1k watt digi ballasts I was running

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first off foul language does nothing to further the conversation. im refering to ballasts here, not bulbs. I run four 600 watt lights, two are mag and 2 are digital. the mags ballasts get pretty warm to the touch. the digitals ballasts also get warm, but not as much. this is due largely to the fact that the digital ballasts have cooling fans built into them. mags do produce more total heat, but the large difference you feel has more to do with the small internal fans then it does total heat output. heat is a function of power, and 600 watts is 600 watts regardless of magnetic or digital origin.

successs!!!!!!