Lumatek Ballast

They are on sale now for 175 bucks and the hortilux bulb is 70 bucks at the store location I sometimes go. Makes me so tempted to go out and pick up 4 of them but the wify is crying for a new fridge and stove. She wants them to match the stainless steal dishwasher but its going to put me back 3 grand. (and she says I waste money.) I might have to wait for the neww year Stix. I hate it when so much mulla leaves my pockets so freakin fast and we set the budget high for Xmas.
 
I would just giftwrap them and be oh so surprised on X-Mas morning!! Thanks Santa Claus!!!! haha You really were a GOOD boy this year!
 
Well my Lumatek Ballast bit the dust. I have had it for 9 months. for some reason it decided to keep blowing its fuse. I took it to where I bought it and they exchanged it for a new one. The differences are the power cord on the new one is hard wired and the fuse is now a circuit breaker switch. I still am very happy with my purchase.
 
Thought I would chime in here and share my experience.
I have the new purple 600W Doomatek bought in Feb of 08. It has caused me countless of hours trying to figure out why my Growtronix environment controller was loosing communication. Growtronix even replaced my system.

I spoke with Chris at Lumatek support. He claims that they never heard of this RF problem and that all ballast are tested for RF noise. BS!!! search google and you will find many people complaining. Chris said he was going to contact GT and then get back to me. A week has passed, I emialed them again, still no reply.

I bought it from Greentrees hydro. They said that they are no longer selling them because of all the problems and returns. At least they are offering to give me $60 towards this unit that they recommend. That was a waste of $200.00 plus countless hours trying to figure out what was going on.
Power House ballasthttps://www.hydroponics.net/c/297
 
I use 2 lumatek 120V 400W ballasts and have had no problems. I even Use EYE Hortilux Blue bulbs and have not experienced the bulb burnout. Don't know about RF noise though don't have a radio in the grow room. I'll be upgrading my HPS bulbs for flower this grow so I might go with the phillips red. We'll see. I'd go lumatek, the owner seems to be stand up.
 
Hey everyone I was wondering what would be better 8 42watt CFL's or a 150watt hps lighting system?...Also How many plants do you think I can grow with the 150watt hps?

Thanks
 
Hi
In one of the posts, it was mentioned that a 600 watt ballast gives off better light that a 1000 watt. Please explain.
I have two rooms - 7 feet by 8 feet. Part of one room will be storage, clones, veg and the other is planned to be flowering. The flowering I was planning either a 1000 and a 600, or two to three 600 watts. In the veg. room it will be a 600 watt and a 400 watt or two maybe three 400 watts.

Suggestion, Ideas

What is the wattage (power consumed) by a 400 watt, 600 watt and the 1000 watt Lumatek Ballast digital.

Thanks

grow and help the world grow too
 
Peacock said:
Hi
In one of the posts, it was mentioned that a 600 watt ballast gives off better light that a 1000 watt. Please explain.
Click to expand...

I believe a 600 is the most efficient... meaning a 600 per watt is more bang for the buck than a 400 or a 1000

so for instance 2400w ; (4) 600's would be a better choice
rather than 2 1000's & 1 400

make sence?
 
Hi, To add to the wattage of the ballast. I will add to the question. A 400 watt ballast uses how many amps. If a 600 watt ballast uses 5.5 amps (for example). How many amps will a 1000 or a 400 watt ballast consume.
 
McBudz said:
Ohms law:

I = P/V



I - is equal to current in Amperes
P - is Power in Watts
V - is Voltage.

so 600 watt ballast plugged into 120V draws 5 amps.

Lumatek does have a lower "firing or igniting" draw than most ballasts.
Click to expand...

In your opinion is a 600 watt ballast the best for your $$.
The concern I have at this time, is where can you buy an MH bulb for the 600 watt ballast.
 
Well you would have to investigate the lumen output each brand advertises their bulb at but at first glance I compared a Hortilux 600 (88,000 lumens) watt HPS and a Hortilux 1000 (145,000 lumens) watt HPS and the 600 is SLIGHTLY more efficient as far as Lumens per watt is concerned.

But if you compare initial cost of equipment based on ebay prices I just looked at the 1000w lumatek ballast is cheaper per watt by 20 cents.

1000 $332 $3 per watt
600 $187 $3.20 per watt

You be the judge. If you plan to grow in a larger area I would def recommend 2 x 600's as opposed to 1 x 1000.

You can find the bulbs at any local hydro shop or one of hundreds of online hydro or lighting company's.
 
Hey guys, I just purchased a Lumatek 400W digital ballast for 120V, and I have to tell you...this thing is AWESOME. It is COMPLETELY silent when it starts, and goodness it warms up the bulb to full operation with correct ilght spectrum in literally a minute or two. Not to mention that it can restrike a HOT HPS bulb in about 30 seconds to a minute (not recommended). Its pretty nice. My stupid ebay one blew out yesteday so i had to do one cycle of 12/12 with a stupid 25W CFL 5000K of all spectrums. lol

Anyways it also has a breaker built into it that is resettable, so gone are the days of one short and your Eballast is ruined. I also want to mention that it is SIGNIFICANTLY brighter. In a way, 20-30% more lumens means basically you are almost running a 500W system lumen output. I know this because my temps jumped up with this ballast. I had to raise the hood a good amount and up the vortex fan.

I definitely recommend. Its a keeper. Only $150 for a 400W online!
 

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