Looking to purchase my first HPS

Being an older technology, I thought magnetic ballasts were supposedly cheaper than the digital ones. I found this one at Amazon, but it's considerable more expensive at $240. I guess I'll keep looking. I'm definitely getting a cooltube at the very least. At this point I still prefer the IPower option I mentioned in my first post.

Mines been great for me so far, just go ahead and grab it, you won't regret it! They have a good warranty as well, so you're covered.

Well, I bought a light. I grow in a spare bedroom and use the house's central heat & air to control the temperature by opening the vents in the grow room and closing all the others in the house. This works well, but we have really hot summers and my electric bill is driven up enough as it is, so I bought the smaller light.

Here's what I got.....It is the IPower 400w hps with the digital ballast, a 6" cooltube and the 2nd most expensive hood offered. The cost was $161.40, and this shoud be plenty for my needs. I also plan on getting a 2nd 12 inch oscillating fan to go with the one I already have. That will only cost about $20 more and I'll just set that one to blow on the new light.

I'm somewhat upset that the charege on my credit card will appear as 'HPS Grow". That's not too cool.

The new light should arrive within 10-11 days. I can't wait, this is exciting for me. I have two critical mass ladies that are ready to have the lights flipped on them, but I'll wait until the light arrives.
My deepest appreciation goes out to all who have helped me. If I can, I'll + rep you. If I can't, I'll owe you and hit you up with it when I can (Grandpapy).
Thanks again guys.

your gonna enjoy ur ipower, i have a 600w hps. no complaints really, does its job. my ballast blew out once so i called them and was relieved to find out they come with a 2 yr warranty. i had a new one in no time

Awesome! You will be happy with your set up, my 600W is doing well too! Put some pics up whenever you get everything up and rolling!

tw1st3dm3ntal1ty said:

your gonna enjoy ur ipower, i have a 600w hps. no complaints really, does its job. my ballast blew out once so i called them and was relieved to find out they come with a 2 yr warranty. i had a new one in no time

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How long was it before your ballast blew out? That would be a big problem for me.

doniboy said:

Plus you can not run both hps and mh with a magnetic ballast as far as I know...

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I run both in my magnetic ballast, have to have a metal halide conversion bulb though.

I purchased the Ipower400w HPS/MH Digital ballast i believe 6 months ago. biggest pros about the Ipower is that the ballast has a fan in it and you can switch from HPS to MH instantly.
Ive had a few power outages and the ballast still works!. the light bulbs that came with the Ipower are not good. During the first month or 2nd month i had to change the HPS bulb as it blew out with the first power outage.. bought one for 12bucks so i didnt bother with the company. the MH bulb that came with it still works 6 months later but i only used it for 40days.

I didnt get the cool tube, and i run it "Bare bulb" no hood, no tube. white walls. central AC.
off a bag seed i pulled in a 6ft plant and a few oz in a 2gallon.

i usually run half gallon containers which pulls out an oz of top shelf per plant with no problems.
6months and 3 harvest so it paid off in stability and product.
Have fun with your new upgrade!

heres an update on how those plants are doin under an ipower 400w dimmable ballast running a Plantmax 250w HPS bulb, set on 75% (300w)

I cant say I enjoy my ipower as others do. I bought mine for 192 00, its a 600 watt dimmable and I have the 6inch aircooled hood, for one the hood came crscked, for two it came w a broke mh light and ive had it for 2 months snd it burnt a bulb out on 12/12 cycles. I just upgraded to a galaxy digital , so much better and my magnum xxxl hood is the shit , I still have a magnetic bsllast by sunmaster or something, its 1000 watts, not dimmable but mh or hps and 112 or 220 but when I get all the same equipment I want nothing but magnums and galaxys, unless there is better by then.

I don't want to say my Lumatek is better or anything, but I've never had a single problem with her. Super lumens, 360W-400W-600W, and she stays so cool to the touch it's crazy. I definitely need a new hood and am looking into the Magnum's for the footprint they have. I've also seen a couple of other hoods cheaper and with almost as big of a spread of light so I still need to check stuff out. I've heard alot of good things about the galaxy ballast's too though, they're suppose to be very reliable and consistent. I really like the new digi ballasts, they really make the old magnetic ones seem like garbage. Not that they are, they're just older tech is all. I have 2 or 3 old magnetic's and will probably keep 1 for a back-up but I'm sure it will end up on craigs list or something at some point. Take it easy all. Peace out.

How long have you had the lumatek?