marquezmurder
Well-Known Member
I always look at the light spectrum chart for each bulb, I like blue in my hps. Nice looking up the kelvin though.
What's the best 1000w hps bulb money can buy
- Thread starter Chrissa
- Start date
jijiandfarmgang
Well-Known Member
Advanced Nutrients BaddAss HPS Bulb - 1000 Watt
It's the best, their website told me so.
- Jiji
It's the best, their website told me so.
- Jiji
BShillington
Member
http://www.lighting.philips.com/mai...pressure-sodium/horti/928196305116_EU/product
For you guys who are changing bulbs every 2-3 cycles, keep in mind the DE bulbs lose ~1% efficiency every 2000 hours. Regular HPS's typically burn out at 2-3x that rate. That should be enough life to last 4-6 grows at least.
As for the various rebranded bulbs like Advanced Nutrients, they're just a generic import with a logo slapped onto it. Unless they have their own factory which is highly unlikely, they probably just import a standard HPS from a large manufacturer like Phillips or worse some generic OEM from China and sell it as their own with a markup.
For you guys who are changing bulbs every 2-3 cycles, keep in mind the DE bulbs lose ~1% efficiency every 2000 hours. Regular HPS's typically burn out at 2-3x that rate. That should be enough life to last 4-6 grows at least.
As for the various rebranded bulbs like Advanced Nutrients, they're just a generic import with a logo slapped onto it. Unless they have their own factory which is highly unlikely, they probably just import a standard HPS from a large manufacturer like Phillips or worse some generic OEM from China and sell it as their own with a markup.
Cowboy Kahlil
Well-Known Member
jijiandfarmgang
Well-Known Member
BShillington
Member
That's a complete double ended fixture, yeah. You can get a remote ballast and bigger/air cooled reflector to keep the heat down though. You can get a DE compatible ballast on alibaba.com for ~130 shipped. A Thunder Sundyn runs ~165 and a bulb for ~110? Comes out even cheaper than the Gavita. I think as long as the ballast operating frequency is >80kHZ it can run a DE bulb.
Cowboy Kahlil
Well-Known Member
Thx. I'm not at all ballast-savvy. I saw a video pitch for a Powerbox ballast that impressed. Do most make a lot of noise or add heat? I may not always be able to afford high end but if they're safer/better/long-lasting, sometimes paying more just makes sense.
So what ballasts are considered, say, top three? Are some truly standouts?
BShillington
Member
I'm going to paste a portion of an older post of mine.
The only ballasts that actually stood out to me are the Gavita ones - they seem to be more efficient than the rest by 1-4 percent which adds up over time. That's 10-40 watts of efficiency which can mean hundreds of dollars of electricity savings over years if you're paying 30 cents a kWh in some places like Cali.
Gavita aside, most if not all the other ballasts appear to be simply Chinese imports with a reseller logo/brand slapped on. Go browse alibaba and see it for yourself.
A regular 1kW e-ballast should run you ~$50-60 FOB. The shipping is what kills - if you're buying "samples" they'll ship by DHL which is like $30 a ballast. You'll still get a better deal for DE ballasts though, since all the importers jack up the prices to ~$200. I'm getting a couple DE ballasts shipped to me for $130.
Cowboy Kahlil
Well-Known Member
Pretty impressive savings.
Pretty impressive savings. You sure Gavita isn't made in China, too? Are a lot of other equipment supplies cheaper with Alibaba, too? (Every buck saved is a big deal for me right now)
Pretty impressive savings. You sure Gavita isn't made in China, too? Are a lot of other equipment supplies cheaper with Alibaba, too? (Every buck saved is a big deal for me right now)
BShillington
Member
I think the newer Gavita lines are actually made in China but I couldn't find a source for their remote ballasts. I know the first units were built in Holland but word is they've changed.
Ultimately it's the electronics inside that counts and I haven't found anyone that's as efficient as they are, at least that's what they advertise.
rob333
Well-Known Member
u want the best of the best well here from top being the best at our shop to the cheapest
Hortilux Eye
Ushio
Digilux
Followed by
Maxlume
Badass
Solistek
Lumatek
Growlite
The Philips Agrolite XT was designed for magnetic ballasts, not sure if it will run on all electronic ballasts. Other than that, Philips is a rock solid brand.
I am currently using the Hortilux HPS on an Xtrasun Dial-a Watt, no complaints. After a year of use, it does not appear to have deteriorated much, I see no need to replace it yet.
Funny thing about Gavita: their Digistar ballast is recommended to be used with a Gavita bulb. Somebody find me a 1000w Gavita SE bulb in the USA; I can't find one for sale anywhere. I don't buy from companies that have distribution problems if I can at all avoid it.
The DE bulbs have some advantages but the reflectors are limited selection and usually expensive. Far as I can tell, they come in one size: 1000 watt. I like to be able to swap ballasts and bulbs around depending on conditions. Furthermore, the lumen maintenance of SE bulbs is perhaps a lot better than it used to be due to electronic ballasts of increasingly high frequencies.
The growerhouse site has a test that purportedly tests SE vs. DE. But if you look at the numbers and then look at the reflector designs, what they are really testing is reflectors. A reflector designed to concentrate light in a small area is going to produce higher numbers. Reflector choice is at least as important as choice of bulb.
I am currently using the Hortilux HPS on an Xtrasun Dial-a Watt, no complaints. After a year of use, it does not appear to have deteriorated much, I see no need to replace it yet.
Funny thing about Gavita: their Digistar ballast is recommended to be used with a Gavita bulb. Somebody find me a 1000w Gavita SE bulb in the USA; I can't find one for sale anywhere. I don't buy from companies that have distribution problems if I can at all avoid it.
The DE bulbs have some advantages but the reflectors are limited selection and usually expensive. Far as I can tell, they come in one size: 1000 watt. I like to be able to swap ballasts and bulbs around depending on conditions. Furthermore, the lumen maintenance of SE bulbs is perhaps a lot better than it used to be due to electronic ballasts of increasingly high frequencies.
The growerhouse site has a test that purportedly tests SE vs. DE. But if you look at the numbers and then look at the reflector designs, what they are really testing is reflectors. A reflector designed to concentrate light in a small area is going to produce higher numbers. Reflector choice is at least as important as choice of bulb.
BShillington
Member
Gavita actually has a 600/750W bulb now with it's own fixture. Can't find a corresponding remote ballast for it though, outside of Gavita's own line which is rather pricey.
As for the DE bulbs, yeah the reflector selection isn't really there but I like what I'm seeing with the Thunder Sundyn. Seems like either an import of the AC/DE or a copy. I'm guessing an import from the same supplier given how it looks exactly the same. That and a generic import ballast for ~130 brings the price pretty similar to a med/high end regular HPS set.
Growerhouse's review seems pretty nice but I'd rather trust independent data like the ones on ICMAG and data from large corporations who are actually afraid of getting sued for false advertising i.e. Phillips. 2100 umol/s vs ~1800 for HPS is a pretty big upgrade when electricity costs are so damn high. That and the longer life makes DE a no brainer for me.
The Grener's (iirc) ballast review is highly questionable due to the fact that they didn't take wattage measurements into account. Solis-tek after a bit of digging is actually just another Chinese import (alibaba as Jayo Technology) and their driver efficiency is 93% - so 70 watt loss to ballast meaning they were draining more energy to make more light.
Again, Gavita sells the Digistar and recs their own 1000 watt SE bulb. You can buy the ballast, but you can't buy the bulb as it is not available in the US. That's fucked in my view.
I would characterize the growerhouse data as more of a test than a review although it is sloppy in that the PDF does not list instrumentation used, cite data sources, etc. like a proper scientific paper would. Still, I have no reason to doubt their results. The results indicate that if you want concentrated light, get a reflector designed to accomplish that goal, regardless of whether you are using SE or DE systems.
Cowboy Kahlil
Well-Known Member
Cowboy Kahlil
Well-Known Member
Not sure if these are the Gavita bulbs you're looking for.
http://www.urbangardensupply.net/categories/lamps.html
http://www.urbangardensupply.net/categories/lamps.html
BShillington
Member
Cowboy - Yeah that's what I meant. You can also find them on ebay under hydroponicsetc something, they're the cheapest AC/DE type reflector resellers I've found though you might get it even cheaper from alibaba if you buy bulk or if the shipping doesn't kill for a "sample".
bluerock - I'm pretty sure the Digistar's just run regular HPS bulbs, the recommendation is just a recommendation but not a requirement. The SE bulbs are probably just phased out due to lack of demand after their DE bulbs started kicking ass. Also, I believe the 1kW DE Gavita bulbs are just rebranded Phillips Green Power Plus so you can just buy those or the Ushio Pro Plus. All give pretty much the same results.
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
Just throwing some real facts out here for yah guys....
A mag ballast should be able to run DE bulbs no problem.
Any hps with enhanced blues is a good bukb regardless of advertising as "digital" only special bulb that falls out this catagory is cmh and quartz halide (horti lux blue) which can't structurally handle the vibrations of high frequency.
So basically any 20-40$ hps will preform.
I change bulbs every 3 cycles this mathematically puts the loss of of light around 10-15%
A mag ballast should be able to run DE bulbs no problem.
Any hps with enhanced blues is a good bukb regardless of advertising as "digital" only special bulb that falls out this catagory is cmh and quartz halide (horti lux blue) which can't structurally handle the vibrations of high frequency.
So basically any 20-40$ hps will preform.
I change bulbs every 3 cycles this mathematically puts the loss of of light around 10-15%