How shitty is running a 1000w ballast at 50%

The best answer is not to dim, but to get a ballast that is switchable...say a 400-600-1000 or just a 600-1000= much better than dimming...just don't use a 400watt bulb on 600 or 1000
As for where the power went? it never got used...say you have a garden hose and it produces 5 gl a min unrestricted, then you put a nozzle on it to reduce flow to 2.5 gl per min...you still have the possibility of 5 but by restricting it you only get 2.5...so you reduced the amount by 1/2 and can still unristrict any time you please

ODanksta said:

Just being curious. I know it fucks the bulb life up, but not worried about it.. But limited to a small closet at the moment for fun.. I have a 14 1k dimmable ballast so not trying to buy new shit. Just wondering how shitty it is, like light spectrum and shit...lol

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Philips white paper suggests that dimming MH lamps seriously screws with their longevity, but it isn't quite so bad for HPS. Still, running at half power is aging the lamp at least double time, and of course your spectrum output goes to hell. Finally, you're burning up 50% of the power but only getting 30-35% of the rated light output.

There's a reason lighting engineers put ratings on bulbs; it's because they made a lot of tradeoffs that all come together to work their best... at the rated output.

You wanna run 400W, buy the right lamp.

I have been running my ballast at 600 watts they have 1000, 750, 600 setting im running 2 and have a 600 watt bulb in one and a 1000 dimmed in the other. Idid this for heat reasons it being summer (i have the 1ks on now) and the electricity bill was deff less with them running at 600 then at 1k. I called multiple shops and asked what bulb i should use and they all said to use the 6 but that i could use the 1k but not to because it affects the spectrum and life span

ttystikk said:

Philips white paper suggests that dimming MH lamps seriously screws with their longevity, but it isn't quite so bad for HPS. Still, running at half power is aging the lamp at least double time, and of course your spectrum output goes to hell. Finally, you're burning up 50% of the power but only getting 30-35% of the rated light output.

There's a reason lighting engineers put ratings on bulbs; it's because they made a lot of tradeoffs that all come together to work their best... at the rated output.

You wanna run 400W, buy the right lamp.

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But how does running a 600w bulb in a 50% powered ballast perform? is the spectrum to red?

zchopper420 said:

I have been running my ballast at 600 watts they have 1000, 750, 600 setting im running 2 and have a 600 watt bulb in one and a 1000 dimmed in the other. Idid this for heat reasons it being summer (i have the 1ks on now) and the electricity bill was deff less with them running at 600 then at 1k. I called multiple shops and asked what bulb i should use and they all said to use the 6 but that i could use the 1k but not to because it affects the spectrum and life span

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Thanks for your input...

ODanksta said:

But how does running a 600w bulb in a 50% powered ballast perform? is the spectrum to red?

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The 1k bulb i was using was hps and it looked more orange to me when i dimmed it. It was a hortilux and i just replaced it with a new one running at 1k it looks much more white. The 600 was a mh.

ODanksta said:

But how does running a 600w bulb in a 50% powered ballast perform? is the spectrum to red?

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You'll need to read the owners manual with your ballast; some strike the bulb at full voltage and then bring voltage down to the dimmed seeing- I see problems with smaller lamps experiencing this!

Option B is to run half your fixtures at their rated output, then the next day run the other half. No spectrum or efficiency losses, and you still get heat reduction benefits.

I just purchased 5 Galaxy 1000 watt ballasts with DE bulbs that have a switch from 400 , 600 , 1000 and turbo modes. I set up an amp meter on each ballast and recorded amp draw the 400 watt was 3.9 amps the 600 was 5.7 amps ,the 1000 was 9.2 amps and in turbo mode the ballast drew almost 11 amps. All the ballasts were amazingly close at each point. I'm completely sold on these setups and have 5 more waiting at the grow shop. All my hoods but one are air cooled I use the one open hood to keep the temps in the mid 70s when it's cool outside. These lights also put out 30% more than the 1000 watt hps setups I currently run with brand new hortalux bulbs. So to answer your question the lower settings do save power put out less heat and give you a much smaller yield.