# Digital age



## NorCalHal (Sep 13, 2012)

Well, I have entered the digital age. Kinda forced too.
I have allways ran Analog ballasts fo as long as I have been growing. I just could not justify spending the money on digital ballasts, as they are double, almost triple the cost of analog ballasts.
To make a long story short, I went with a cheap ballast type when I set up my last room. They have ran OK for the last couple of runs, but during the last 4 weeks, I have lost 5 capacitors on them. That is 5 out of 18!
Yesterday, I went to the room and instantly smelled burning. I flew up to the ballasts and sure enough, 1 litterally burst into flames as I looked at it.
I am SUPER lucky. I was able to put it out without any further damage.

PISSED OFF. I had enough of those ballasts. I took the burned one to my hydro guy and lucky for me, and unlucky for him, was the Rep who sells the ballasts.
I let him know my issues and he was very cool about it. He pulled hte ballasts off the shelves from my friends store and gave me back FULL purchase price for the ballasts that I had bought. Mind you, I have 18 ballasts in that particular room, so it was wuite the pretty penny.

So, after much thought, I went with all digital ballasts and the fancy "digital" bulbs. The full retail cost of the digitals were $215 each, but with the credit I had from the bad ballasts, it wasn't too bad.

So, I went back and changed them all. Dang, I'm sore today. I had to drag 18 heavy analog ballasts down a 12 foot ladder. Good times.

I installed all the Digitals, changed all the bulbs and fired up the room.
WOW. crazy bright. You could see the difference in lumans with the naked eye. I took my luman counter and it proved that what I was seeing was true, 30% brighter.

The best thing was no internal ballast change was needed in order to run the ballasts at 208 volt, as the digi's auto correct to the right voltage, whereas with analogs, you must physically change a wire on the transformer.

Plug and Play.

After doing the math, I will also save around 9-10 amps total in the room due to the digi's, as the run about a half of an amp lower then regulay ballasts.

I have seen the light and will be changing my other rooms to digitals asap.

So, moral of the story is, if you can afford it...go Digital.


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## Locked (Sep 13, 2012)

Good info bro...glad your close call worked out. I am going to replace my one mag ballast with a digi this fall. I have had no problems with my digi ballast in the 2 years or so I have been running it.


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## 4u2sm0ke (Sep 13, 2012)

:stoned:

what?????    *NorCal  *goes outside and steps into Diggy world in same year....:yay:


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## NorCalHal (Sep 13, 2012)

Haha 4u....I guess old skoolers still can learn!

I cant wait to see them fire up today. They are all controlled by a Contactor, so all 18 fire up at the same time, should be cool.


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## 4u2sm0ke (Sep 13, 2012)

shweeeeeeet....enjoy the new toy brother

:48:


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## Old_SSSC_Guy (Sep 13, 2012)

Cool beans for you Hal.  But with digi's I'd keep a spare (or 1-2 old mag ballasts) to CYA - especially if all the new one's came from the same production run.  Digi ballasts will be like computer hard drives; almost every one of them in a single production run will fail at about the same time.  So if 1-2 go, watch the others real carefully.  And (for me) they have failed oddly.  They would fire up the lamp but then turn off about the time the lamp comes to full power.  With mag ballasts that usually means a bad lamp - with digis it might be the lamp or the ballast itself.  On the good side I got Lumatek and they replace their units ASAP with a smile.

Did you get Lumatek brand? Lumatek has admitted that a digi ballast (all of them?) which is cooled will last maybe 25%-50% longer than an uncooled one.  The new Lumatek "Ice Pack" is a cheesy computer fan than attaches to the top of the purple monsters and plugs into a 12-volt outlet on the control end of all the newer Lumatek ballasts.   I only run 4 ballasts but now have them in a small vented cabinet which keeps them much cooler - in theory giving them a longer life cycle.

The quietness, restart speed and dimmability of the digis convinced me.


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## pcduck (Sep 13, 2012)

Congrats and enjoy.

Been running the same lumatecs for a few years now. Only problem has been one did not like the high temps we were having this summer and would shut down. Easy fix was I just opened the cabinet door that they are stored in.


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## Wetdog (Sep 13, 2012)

Cool beans on your new digi's.

I would also bet that those "cheap ballast type" used aluminum wire rather than copper in the transformers and such.

Cheap is cheap, analog or digital.

Wet


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## orangesunshine (Sep 13, 2012)

NCH---good to hear you were there for the failure---that had potential to be a nightmare---why do you think the analog blew---what digi did you go with---sure you saw the adjustable digi's as well---pretty decent in the veg room---happy growing :icon_smile:


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## YYZ Skinhead (Sep 13, 2012)

My 1000w has a Lumatek digital ballast.

OTOH I use a Hydrofarm (presumably magnetic) unit that has only seen one repair in 14 years.


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## Old_SSSC_Guy (Sep 13, 2012)

I still have 2-3 Hydrofarm ballasts, one halide is at least 20 yrs old now, the other HPS maybe 15 yr.  They still work like a noisy charm. When other manufacturers were offering a 90 day warranty, Hydrofarm was offering 5 year warranty.

Many years ago I visited Hydrofarm's factory in San Rafael, CA.  They were located right next door to an ILM studio/shop and when I was there ILM had the ->original<- Millennium Falcon model outside their shop leaning against a wall.  This was maybe 4-5 years after Star Wars was a hit, and I about freaked when I saw that sucker.  Kinda beat up and abused at that point, it still looked just like the Millennium Falcon... heh...  Guess that ILM moved it outside in the mornings to make more room in the shop.  It was a big sucker too...


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## nouvellechef (Sep 14, 2012)

Digital = 30% higher yield? Hmmm. Only time will tell.


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## NorCalHal (Sep 14, 2012)

I don't know about yeild, but it sure is brighter.


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## umbra (Sep 14, 2012)

still in the stone age. I have only had 2 capacitors go in 20 years.


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## Dan K. Liberty (Sep 14, 2012)

just eliminating the buzz of the mag ballasts was worth it for me . . . it used to rattle my teeth, but these HydroFarm digi's are nearly silent


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## YYZ Skinhead (Sep 14, 2012)

Am I the only individual on earth who isn't consciously affected by mag ballast buzz?  I sleep ten feet away from two of them.


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## PUFF MONKEY (Sep 15, 2012)

YYZ Skinhead said:
			
		

> Am I the only individual on earth who isn't consciously affected by mag ballast buzz?  I sleep ten feet away from two of them.


i have 12 that fire at the same time but after they warm up i swear i never hear them.. could be the 10"maxfans drown them out though lol..


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## gourmet (Sep 15, 2012)

I'm happy with my Lumatek and it is right next to my bed with no noise.  It's a 250/400W with "super lumen" capability which I do not use.


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## NorCalHal (Sep 23, 2012)

YYZ Skinhead said:
			
		

> My 1000w has a Lumatek digital ballast.
> 
> OTOH I use a Hydrofarm (presumably magnetic) unit that has only seen one repair in 14 years.


 

I hear ya, I have an old diamond ballast that I have had for a solid 12 years or so...no issues but a cap change a few years ago.


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## Growdude (Sep 23, 2012)

I just hear of too many electronic failures on these forums, sure some have great warranty but your still out a light.

I know how reliable a good quality copper core ballast is.
Mine also makes way less noise than the fans I use.

Im sure one day Ill switch, I love the sound of the extra lumens.


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## YYZ Skinhead (Sep 23, 2012)

NorCalHal said:
			
		

> I hear ya, I have an old diamond ballast that I have had for a solid 12 years or so...no issues but a cap change a few years ago.


I bet you know where I got my Hydrofarm 430w in 1998.  It was in the Castro.


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