Digital Ballasts: 120V vs. 240V, what's the difference?

[CnstntGrdnr]

High!

I'm in the process of shopping for digital ballasts for my up and coming FIRST grow and wanted to ask y'all a question before I spend a couple of hundred dollars on this piece of equipment.

I noticed there's an option to buy a 120V OR a 240V digital ballast - I'm not an electrician by any means and Google isn't really providing any clear answers on the difference between the two models.

Can somebody please explain the performance differences between these two voltages? The prices are the same, but I just want to make sure I make the right buy AND that I won't have to add anything significant to my setup to support a 240V ballast.

I would definitely appreciate any input provided.

Thanks!

 

[Ganjarden]

120v is able to plug into most wall sockets. 240V used for heavy duty applications such as air conditioners, clothes dryers, stoves, ovens, water heaters and some grow lights. Its a 3 pronged outlet with a ground, one socket horizontal and the other vertical. Dont really know of any differences in performance between the two.

 

[stewbacca6]

The 240V draws half as many amps so you can have more lights running on a 15 or 20 amp breaker. I think that is the only difference

 

[FreakNature]

^^^^

The other difference, besides using half the ampereage, is that a circuit breaker for a 240V circuit uses two spaces, vs. one slot in the panel for a 120V circuit, so it won't really save you anything.

volts x amps = watts

 

[Weed420]

Yeah if you were running a big operation 240v would probably be a little better but for a naormal grow 110 works just fine.

 

[CnstntGrdnr]

Awesome, thanks for all the replies everybody! Much appreciated!