# How many over clock the light ballast?



## 000StankDank000 (Apr 26, 2014)

I run a dimable 1000watt ballast and in Veg I run 400watts and in flower I over clock it past 1000watt to get the most power out of it.

Is this a good idea or will it shorten the life of my equipment drastically ?


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## highdesertgardener (May 1, 2014)

dimming your ballast will drastically change the life of your lamp as well as degrade the spectrum..I highly recommend switching to a "switchable" ballast that gives you the option to switch between 1000/600/400w. Some of these ballasts will allow you to run a 1000w lamp at a 600w setting, which isn't recommended but is a cool feature if your in a bind. I run solisteks now but ran lumateks in the past. After going through 3 back to back failures i switched to solistek and havent had any issues..they have a 10k blue finisher lamp also that is ridiculous. increased my crystals big time..:watchplant:


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## Hackerman (May 1, 2014)

Welcome HDG. Do you have a link to info about backing up those statements (about the dimmable vs switchable ballasts)?

I also bought the switchable ballast instead of the dimmable based on that same reason. Except the only reference I have is the salesman.

Also.... did you REALLY get more resin production from the Blue bulb. They are a big step up in price from the Hortilux Eye. Could the resin production have been caused by some other factor (switching nutes or whatever).

Thanks for posting and again.... welcome.


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 1, 2014)

I have to say that I have never noticed that dimming my ballast shortened the life of the bulb.  I also never say any difference in production/quality between a 400W HPS and a 600W HPS kicked down to 400W.  But like Hackerman, I need to see something concrete that shows this and I really would like an explanation why this happens.

The 10K bulb sounds interesting.  However, like everything I am curious of they why this happens....otherwise it really is just an antecdotal story, like my bulbs lasting as long when they are dimmed as when they are not.


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## ShOrTbUs (May 1, 2014)

i would seriously consider not overclocking your ballast stank. you will most certainly shorten the life of not only your ballast, but your bulbs as well. worst case scenario, you will cause a fire.

i'm also extremely curious how exactly you overclocked it. did you increase the voltage?


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## The Hemp Goddess (May 1, 2014)

Shortbus--a lot of newer dimmable ballasts have a setting call "Super Lumens.  I have ballasts that have this feature, but never used it.  Supposed to increase your lumen output over the max of the bulb.  It doesn't sound like amping things up higher than they should be would be a good idea.  I don't, however, see the problem with lowering it.  Whether it is bad for the bulb or alters the spectrum....well I'll wait for something concrete.


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## Locked (May 1, 2014)

If it is something built into the ballast consider that it might just be hype to begin with.  

If it is a mod you do yourself, then I am with Shortbus. Don't do it.  The one thing I won't mess with is electric. I have to depend on my tents being on while I am away without starting a fire. It's not worth it.  I have a feeling it's just a setting on your ballast though.  In that case as long as it's not a cheap knock off ballast it's probably safe but might not actually do much.  jmo       &#9835;&#9835;&#9835;


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## 000StankDank000 (May 2, 2014)

No it's built in and it works on over clock setting it's SO bright hurts your eyes


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## ShOrTbUs (May 3, 2014)

i have a dimmable lumatek that has the super lumens as well. honestly the whole "overclock" setting on digi ballasts is just an advertising stunt. what they really mean is if your not using the super lumens setting you're not getting 100% out of your bulb.

like hammy said, i thought you meant that you overclocked it yourself. like someone would do with their cpu or gpu on a computer.


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## DrFever (May 3, 2014)

Isn't over clocking  making your Ballast work harder ??? if thats the case then  yes it would  work all components harder   lessening  the life span of the unit / bulb ....
 Taking a guess here  but i am guessing  when they talk about over clocking  its changing the actual  operating frequency  to a higher one  is it a gimmick ??? not sure if it is 
 i know one thing tho lol  magnetic ballasts  run at a lower  frequency  then there  digital counter parts, is this good or bad ??? many growers  and manufacturers  tend to believe  that  the lower  the frequency the better
Got a question here ???? when buying a digital ballast can you run both MH bulb when you want and a HPS when you want ???


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## Locked (May 3, 2014)

DrFever said:


> Got a question here ????  when buying  a digital ballast  can you run both  MH  bulb when you want and a HPS when you want ???





Yes Digi ballasts run both types of bulbs.


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