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The REAL Truth About Digital Grow Lights |
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| There are a lot of false claims surrounding the performance of digital ballasts. Here is the REAL truth abouth digital grow light performance. |
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New technologies can often be prone to wildly exaggerated performance claims and never has this been more true than in the case of electronic and digital grow lights. Many of these claims are simply down to ignorance or misinterpretation, but they are repeated so often to growers that many people are making very expensive purchases based on promises that simply cannot be kept.
For this very reason, we have resisted selling any of these lights until we were satisfied that we had the correct information and that the lights were of sufficient standard to be sold in our shops and catalogue. We now do have a unit that we are happy with, but first of all let’s dispel some of the myths surrounding electronic and digital lights.
Are electronic and digital grow lights more efficient?
The technology used in these ballasts is marginally more efficient than traditional magnetic ballasts. To understand where this slight efficiency gain comes from you first need to realise that the stated wattage on a ballast does not accurately reflect its power consumption. A normal magnetic “600 Watt” ballast will use approximately 650-660 Watts of power, the additional 50-60 watts being lost as heat. To achieve the same lumen output from the same lamp an electronic or digital ballast would consume approx 645 Watts, saving between 5-15 watts.
Are electronic and digital grow lights cheaper to run?
The efficiency saving as detailed above makes digital ballasts slightly cheaper to run, but saving thousandths of a penny per hour of operation will take a long time to recoup the additional cost of one of these ballasts compared to a magnetic ballast. If you are going to buy one of these units for reduced electricity bills, then do not bother. They can in fact increase your electricity bills, but we will go into that below.
Do electronic and digital ballasts get more light output from your lamp?
Electronic and digital ballasts have a soft start feature which means that they gradually increase the power to your lamps until they are running at capacity. This allows lamps to be “overrun” at higher wattages, which in turn increases their lumen output. For example, the Sunmaster Plus Digital Ballast can achieve 105,000 lumens from a 600 Watt Sunmaster Lamp as opposed to the normal 95,000 lumens achieved with a magnetic ballast. You are not getting this extra light output for free though – to achieve this light output the ballast uses 700 Watts which will cause you electricity bill to increase slightly. You can’t get anything for nothing in this world!
Do lamps last longer with electronic and digital ballasts?
The soft start of a digital and electronic ballast avoids the normal power spike at start-up of a magnetic ballast, thus increasing the life of the lamp. We would still recommend changing your lamps every 12 months with these ballasts as opposed to 6-9 months with a magnetic ballast.
What about radio interference?
Electronic and digital ballasts (especially earlier models) are notorious for creating radio interference on certain frequencies. It is virtually impossible to completely eliminate this interference for a fully operational electronic grow light, but if cables are shielded correctly then this interference can be reduced to such an extent that it is no longer an issue. It is important to note that the lead between ballast and reflector will emit interference if not properly shielded. The best type of ballast to go for are those where there is a shielded ballast to reflector lead included.
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GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Solihull, Birmingham, UK
Blooms Garden Centre, Kenilworth Road
Hampton-In-Arden, Solihull, B92 0LW
GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Fulham, London, UK
1 Royal Parade, 247 Dawes Road
Fulham, London, SW6 7RE
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Unit 52 Enterprise Trading Estate,
Off Pedmore Road
Brierley Hill,
Dudley,
DY5 1TX |
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