Quantum ballast?

I was talking with the guy from the local hydro store about the lumatek yesterday and he liked it except for the extra power option. he said that he feels it will cause premature bulb failure from the overpowering of a bulb that has a max output of x amount of watts. we also talked about the 600w mh situation as nobody makes one they do make a 600w mh conversion bulb but I have heard rumors that you are not suppose to run a conversion bulb in a digital ballast. he said that he has a guy running the conversions and that one out of four bulbs depending on brand will flicker every so often.

I don't plan on using the extra power option, just the dimming...I used a MH conversion bulb in the 400w with no issues...they run about $100 for a decent 600w conversion bulb though...ouch.

thats what I said. for that kind of money I think my Hortilux hps does just fine for now.

mrduke said:

+1 with naturalhigh. I 've had mine for almost 3 months and love it. it is really nice to be able to drop it down right on top of some clones at like 50% than as they grow bump it up to 100% expanding your coverage. they do wonders on your electicity bill too, starting at 50% then going up save quit a bit.I'll be buying another soon as i harvest. check out www.elitehydro.com they have some really good prices and fair shipping.

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You are still useing 1000 watts at 50-75-100%. The dimmability is only to the bulb. Not the power input to the ballast.
Lumatek all the way. Best electronic ballast on the market. I love my 600's. 0 noise.

I am running 21, Quantum 1,000w on 240v and adding another 5, 600w 240v for the Vegg. So fareI like them alot with one exception. I had one blow out on me the other day so I had to take it back. No biggie the shop I baught them at told me he takes back one out of 20, but he also said he takes back WAY More Lumtek then Quantum. There quite as hell and they don't through off that much heat.

cowboylogic said:

You are still useing 1000 watts at 50-75-100%. The dimmability is only to the bulb. Not the power input to the ballast.
Lumatek all the way. Best electronic ballast on the market. I love my 600's. 0 noise.

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correct but that requires the ballast to use less voltage to power the bulb in turn it draws less. thats why my bill was only half running at 300w vs 600w.

Okay, let's clear this up for sure, please... was told the Quantum's (when dimmed) draw less power to & through the ballast along with powering the bulb down. So, when you a 1k bulb in that ballast at 50% setting, then you are drawing almost 50% less power... is this correct? Just to make sure. Also, the Lumateks don't do this... they draw 1k no matter what the setting? Thank you all. Peace.

You better listen to the guy at the hydro store abouy the lumitecks.Ive got 2 600s lumitecks that are lemmons.They blow eyes too damn often for me.Im back to useing magnetic now.Thats what Id buy.a real nice sunsystem system.Try to get lumiteck support,they have none,its fucking answer machine saying they will call you back,(dont happen)Read that thread on thc farmer on all the problems with these ballest and you will get a qautum or NG(dont get fucked on this junk like hundreds of us have)

GroHi said:

Okay, let's clear this up for sure, please... was told the Quantum's (when dimmed) draw less power to & through the ballast along with powering the bulb down. So, when you a 1k bulb in that ballast at 50% setting, then you are drawing almost 50% less power... is this correct? Just to make sure. Also, the Lumateks don't do this... they draw 1k no matter what the setting? Thank you all. Peace.

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It would make no sense that one brand would draw less power and the other wouldn't...they should be wired pretty much the same way, no?

Im not sure there but I deffinately seen a price difference in running 300w vs 600w. youd think they would be similar.

polishfalcon420 said:

Hi, I just seen one of these online and was wondering if anyone on here has used one. it looks really interesting with the adjustable output.1000w for both MH and HPS. I dont know if I care for the fan cooled thing. I just havent heard good results with the little cooling fans that they use in the digital ballast. all thoughts appreciated.

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i just finished a grow using two 1000 watt dimmable quantum ballasts love the results. b4 these i was using two 600 future bright ballasts liked them too

do you feel the 1000s are as efficient as the 600s? I was thinking on the 1000s but all my logic says to run two 600s vs one 1000 as the run cost is virtually identical and the lumen output of the two 600s is 180,000 vs one 1000 at 110,000 and I feel they would have better coverage and less heat. am I right to think this?

the thousand put out 147,000 lumens each. considering the price diff of a hundred dollars i would got 4 the 1000 u canalways run it at 750 or 500

I did the analysis too between 2x600 and 1x1000, and figured on going with two 600 Quantums. They were recommended by a grow store I respect. I've had them for a couple months now and no problems. The fans are a little noisy though. Heat distribution, power distribution, and coverage area are what I considered most important in my choice.

I can get a 600 for $200 or a 1000 for $389.

sorry it was cheaper for me cause my hydro store offers a 15 % discount when u spend over 1000 dollars

wow thats cool. I think I may stick with the 600s maybe run like four when I get the right opportunity. my ceilings are only 6.5ft tall so the 1000 generates quite a bit of heat and Im not able to raise it high enough to manage canopy temps.

do a sog.....

I thought about it but that puts plant numbers to high. I yielded an elbow with three plants in a 4x4x6.5 last time with one 600 so that wasnt too bad.

u a med patient