FREE Delivery Over £50*

ClearPay - Pay in 4

Best Price Guarantee

Excellent Excellent 5 star yotpo rating

Chat to an Expert

STOP Wasting Energy on Lights! Go Digital

STOP Wasting Energy on Lights! Go Digital

Alex Grady

Running multiple lights? Make sure you use a digital ballast. Here’s why

  • You get a true output

  • It costs less

  • You can power more lights from the same supply

Magnetic Ballasts

Magnetic ballasts have a very high start-up current of approximately 4A for a 600W ballast.

You typically get 13A and 240V from a normal household circuit.

This means two things:

Magnetic Ballasts


You can only start up 3 ballasts on one circuit.

Any more ballasts than this, and you’ll draw too much power and trip the circuit.

Magnetic Ballasts


You’ll suffer a slight drop in voltage as you add more ballasts to an electrical circuit

As voltage is the key driver for magnetic ballasts, lower voltage means lower output.

Did You Know...

Across the UK, the average voltage is 240V, but for some households it’s consistently lower than this.

Most households get a varying voltage throughout the day, depending on the demand on the electrical grid.

So, with magnetic ballasts, you may have fluctuations in output over the course of a day depending on your incoming voltage.

Digital Ballasts

Unlike magnetic ballasts, digital ballasts have a ‘soft start’ feature, and will slowly build up to their running current of approximately 3A.

They also have the ability to transform input voltages up and down.

This means that:

Digital Ballasts

On a 13A normal household circuit, you can power up 4 digital ballasts

And you’ll do it quicker, using less power.

Digital Ballasts

You’ll always get a consistently high output

No matter how many lights you have on a circuit, even if your input voltage varies.

Other Reasons to Use Digital Ballasts

Magnetic vs Digital Ballasts

Digital ballasts:

  • Prolong the life of lamps
  • Product a better frequency for accurate colour rendering
  • Last longer
  • Are quieter
  • Use less energy
  • Are smaller and lighter
  • Generate less heat

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.