The Pro's & Con's of Dimmable Ballast...

I'm looking for any Dimmable Ballast owners out there with their own Pro's & Con's to using a Dimmable Digital Ballast vs a Regular Digital Ballast? Or anyone else who used them before...I remember reading an Article that had compared all the different types of Ballast back in 2006 and if I remember right the jury was still out on dimmables, I think the article said they weren't all that great...so what's verdict on em in 2011?

Thanks in advance Coolhandluke

aaallllll righty then!!

Bueler? Bueler? Bueler? Ferris Bueler? Bueler? Ahahahahaaa...nobody with any input...WOW? Maybe I over looked it on these forum...anybody have any links on Dimmable Ballast on here?

I had some heat issues this summer. Dimming my ballast lowered my yield, but allowed me to manage heat better. I had to run a 1k @ 50%. which sucks, but it lowered power consumption too tho, so its all give and take.

The only real con Ive come across is that when you dimm, you will shorten your bulb life. What I wonder is if running @ 50% would save enough energy to equal out the cost of the bulb. Too many factors and margins of error to calculate this out for me. But i think it likely evens out in the end.

Thanks for the reply!

Oooohhh ok, yeah I'm starting to remember all this now! LoL.. Thanks dude, you helped kickstart my memory on this!! Your almost and really better off just getting a regular ballast!?

This is my 1st time growing (I've studied, reasearched on the internet & read every book on growing for the past 5+ yrs, so I believe I'm pretty educated on this now & want to put the "Pen to the paper" so to speak) and I'm lookin at getting the 39"x39"x79" 400 watt grow tent from HTG supply, but I'm upgrading to the 600 watt HPS/MH so I have 50 watts per sq foot! I was entertaining the idea of the 600 watt dimmable to help/controlling the temps! From what I've gathered, as long as you have good ventilation your good to go...I'm strongly leaning towards the regular ballast right now!

Instead of a dimmable ballast why not go for something like the nextgen 400/600? You can also go HPS or MH on that unit. Plus it accepts a shitload of different plugs and you can run the distance between the lamp and the ballast up to something like 70 feet..

Hhhhmmm....Rite on!

Interesting, I seen your reply & googled it! You wouldn't happen to have a link to a complete Nextgen Grow light kit would ya (ballast, reflector & bulbs)...who has the best price & Are you using this ballast? I'll google it again & see what else I come up with!

I don't think we're suppose to name vendors in public forums but I do have first hand experience with a good vendor who has good kit deals. I'll pm the name of the company to you.

I have a dimmable digital 600w hps ballast.. I was considering dimming to like 70% for the first couple weeks of flowering to save on power consumption, then cranking it up to 100% for the remainder of flowering to get those big dense nugs.. although I'll probably just use it at 100% for the whole thing.

The reasons I bought the digital ballast over a normal one is that it apparently produces more lumens out of your bulbs and can increase the lifespan of the bulbs. Also the ballast is supposed to run a little cooler.

well, i pulled the trigger and...

Ordered a 1,000 watt Dimmable Quantum Ballast/a 6" Sunlight Coolsun Reflector/1 G.E. or Sylvania HPS bulb & ratchet hanger.. plus I ordered a Secret Jardin DR150 tent, Phresh Filter 400 CFM, 6" C.A.P. Centrifugal Valueline fan.. Wedsday is delivery day.. !! :-D

i have a stupid question.

I have the lumatek 250w / 400w, MH / HPS dimmable ballast, i have been using it for about 6 months now, no problems. I still do not understand the "dimmable" feature, does this mean that i can run a 400w at 250w, or does it mean that i can plug the ballast into a dimmable outlet? Cause there are no buttons / switches that dim up or down.

I dont get it, i know this it a stupid question, thank you for any advise.

Good luck with the 1st grow guy who started this thread, better to under-do the nutrient than over-do. The only thing i messed up on my first round. Figured id just put that out there.