cheese420 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Hi guys! Haven't been on here in a while as 2015 was quite hectic but 2016 is in and I'm buying a new ballast! Does anyone have any experience with the differences they have seen with growing digital instead of a magnetic ballast? Basically are any of the claims u commonly see associated with digital actually true? I am buying a 600W ballast this month and on gthydro the digital one with fan is R1000+ more than their Lumii magnetic ballast. I was wondering if it really is worth the extra money as I will be using it for its 600W ability and do not need it to run 400W and 250W bulbs. Anyone who has been using gthydro's ballasts could you maybe give me a heads up on your experience with their ballasts and how they been faring? Peace! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Digital all the way bud , huge savings in power. Magnetic ballasts have a very low power factor while digitals have a power factor of 0.95 Cheers GLO Ps I am running a gthydro 600w at the moment , it seems to be running on par with my other units apart from a high frequency buzz none of my other ballasts make. Otherwise all my other units are from growguru.co.za , never had hassles with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kimcarsons Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 What is the frequency? Like a mechanic hum? Or a digital difference? What do the gg hz run at? Digital makes a difference for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheese420 Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 Thanks for the reply Glo and Carsons Ya I been doing some reading and looked at grow comparisons and digital is happening! Probably going to purchase from gthydro since I been in contact with them already Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 @kimcarsons it's a digital frequency above 12k Hertz , it comes and goes but I think it's mainly while it is warming up. The GG ballasts run at the same frequency and I think internally are probably exactly the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kimcarsons Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Above 12k? That is high. As you say most likely the warm up, 220 has a far way to go.... As for comparisons, I know for a fact that the actual components are more or less identical across all brands. Things like the chip sets are only produced by a number of Chinese companies, whether it is Gavita or PnP, they have to source identical parts. The biggest difference between brands will be quality control and the logic. Some ballasts have slightly cheaper connectors/conductors or whatever, that will result in slow degradation of the product. Then the chip ofc has to be programmed which again is fairly standard but can be improved through better logic. All in all, at least in this country, I'd say buy according to price and comfort. Peeps like GG, GTH and HHA are all reputable companies that will offer you back up should something go wrong. The actual products are realistically the same, and any difference would be so minuscule, any user error would far outweigh the supposed benefit. Support your choice of outlet, or buy Gavita. Nothing in between imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zairek Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Digital all the way bud , huge savings in power. Magnetic ballasts have a very low power factor while digitals have a power factor of 0.95 Cheers GLO Ps I am running a gthydro 600w at the moment , it seems to be running on par with my other units apart from a high frequency buzz none of my other ballasts make. Otherwise all my other units are from growguru.co.za , never had hassles with them Don't agree with this statement. According to actual power measurements, the differences are negligible and hardly justify the price premium of the Electronic one. Reliability is another factor, i'd stick with Magnetic until something better is released or the laws of physics change. Remember even with the electronic (digital) revolution, none of the reputable HPS/HID manufacturers ie Philips or Osram offer digital ballasts, speaks volumes of the reliability. I have yet to see an industrial application for these devices. Dont fix what's not broken... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 my statement is taken from my multimeter running digital and magnetic side by side on my own setup. Have you tested this yourself ? When it comes to reliability after a few years of using multiple digital ballasts and a mix of brands I have never had one give me any hassles. I will try dig out my old magnetics and take a few readings this weekend. If memory serves me correctly (took these readings a few years ago) my digital 400w pulled 2.1amps while the magnetic pulled 4.3amps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirkie Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 From web: Amps – This is the measure of how much electricity is flowing through an electrical line, which is like the amount of water flowing through a hose. Volts – This is the measure of how strong or the force of electricity flowing through an electrical line, which is like the pressure of the water flowing through a hose. Most devices in the US are rated at 120 volts, with large appliances sometimes using 220 V, like clothes dryers. Effectively, this means those appliances can suck more power per minute than appliances rated at 120 V. Watts – This is the result of multiplying amps and volts together (amps x volts = watts), which is the working capacity of the electricity. If the answer has to be 600 W, does running on lower Amps mean it's maybe running on higher Volts ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 The reason why the ballasts pull different amps is because of the power factor . The power factor or pF is how efficiently the piece of eqipment can use the power given to it. A digital ballast power factor is around 0.99 , this means that the ballast will convert 99% of the power into usable power from the bulb. A magnetic ballast has a much lower pF , let's call it 0.75 for example. This means that the ballast will only convert 75% of power drawn into usable power for the bulb . If you then do the math it works out to the digital ballast needing to draw 404w to power a 400w bulb while a magnetic ballast needs 500w to power the same bulb. If you have ever touched a working digital and magnetic ballast you will feel that the digital is barely warm while the magnetic can be to hot to touch. This is because the magnetic ballast is converting a lot of power to heat and not usable power and a clear practical example of power factor . Simply put not everything is equal when it comes to how efficiently it runs Cheers Reaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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