Ballast DIY kits are vastly cheaper than their already put together companions. Is there any reason why I shouldnt order the DIY Ballast's rather than the digital ones? Are they less efficient or unreliable? Would like to get the opinion of someone who has used DIY Ballasts.
There was an article in the march high times that explained digital ballast don't work with most HID bulbs except for sunpulse. granted, they couldve just been trying to sell sunpulse... the article seemed convincing. something about how electricity comes outta the wall at 60 hz and digitals have to convert that to 20 Khz or more idk, the point of the article was to prromote old school ballast. Certainly depends on finances.
That was actually based on the research conducted by Eye Hortilux at their Mentor, OH testing facility. The original study was published in 2008 ( in maximum yield, or rosebud...can't remember. The tests were conducted to see why most bulbs were failing very quickly on the new digital ballasts. Acoustic resonance busts the bulbs because the digital ballasts run at between 20,000 Hz and 80,000 Hz. At the time, Sun Pulse was the only brand tested that functioned properly on the digital ballasts. Now, just about everyone makes digital specific bulbs. Digilux, Sun Pulse, Lumatek.....
The point of the article was not to promote magnetic ballasts. The point was to explain the bulb failures and to tell people to use the proper bulbs for their ballasts. It was also a heavy endorsement for Sun Pulse bulbs. I run Sun Pulse bulbs with great results. My choice had nothing to do with the article mentioned.
Back to the OP's question -- are there no DIY digital kits? Is it only a choice between DIY magnetic vs. pre-made digital? I think digital is the superior choice over magnetic on several levels.
Do you have experience with the DIY kits ? Cause they seem cheap enough to make up for efficiency loss imo.
Someone I met has the 400w hps HTGsupply kit and it has been great. They get HOT so this person sets his on cinder blocks and puts a fan on them. Def want it outside the grow area if possible but this person has had any problems with his.
Keep in mind that magnetic ballasts have been around for YEARS. Digital may be better, but not everyone wants to spend money on the best. While HTG supply seems like a great deal, if you want more stealthy (buying) you can buy a ballast kit and bulb from a lighting site (been looking at 1000bulbs.com). Put the ballast and capacitor in an external metal box, like a computer power supply or metal electrical sub box at HD. You could even add a small fan in the ballast box too. In the reef aquarium hobby, a lot of people do this and mount their bulbs in custom hoods.