Why are Ballasts Necessary for Growing Cannabis?

Ballasts are used to direct and limit light intensity produced by grow lights. Ballasts are necessary when using HM, HPS and LEC lighting, and they come included with CFL and fluorescent lighting, LEDs also come with a LED driver attached, which acts as a ballast, stabilizing light-flow and providing thermal protection.

As you can see, ballasts are absolutely necessary when it comes to lighting your indoor grow room. In this post we’re going to have a look at the different types of ballasts available for each type of light.

How do Ballasts Work

There are two different types of ballasts for indoor cannabis growing, magnetic and electronic ballasts. Both of them are designed to keep lights stable and limit intensity, although they have different characteristics and are used with different types of lights:

• Magnetic ballasts: these ballasts are made up of steel plating surrounded by copper and aluminium coils, a starter and a condenser. Magnetic ballasts work using the magnetic field that’s generated around the copper or aluminium coils.
• Electronic ballasts: these ballasts use a different type of technology to do the exact same thing in a more efficient and effective way. A micro-processor is used to control the circuit, which produces a high frequency current.

Ballasts and Lights

Ballasts should be used according to the type of lighting you have:

• For fluorescent, LED and CFL lighting you won’t need a ballast as they come installed in the light and in the reflector.
• HM and HPS lights need to be used with a ballast, whether it’s magnetic or electronic, that works at the same wattage as the light itself. For example, if you’re going to use a MH light such as the Sunmaster Cool Deluxe MH 400w for the growth period and a high pressure sodium light such as the Sylvania SHP-TS 400w for the flowering period you can use the same ballast as long as they’re both the same strength.
• If you decide to use LEC or CMH lights for their superior quality, you’ll have to use a LEC or CMH electronic ballast that’s compatible with the wattage of your grow light.

Type of Ballast

Keeping in mind that you can’t use any only ballast with any type of grow light and that not all ballasts are the same in quality, let’s have a look at the differences, pros and cons of each type of ballast. Choose whichever one suits your grow best for the best results and highest quality cannabis indoors.

Magnetic Ballasts

Magnetic ballasts, also known as electro-magnetic ballasts, are compatible with MH lighting (Metal Halide) and HPS (high pressure sodium) lights. They’re available in 250, 400 and 600w. Keep in mind that your ballast and grow light should always be the same voltage.

Before choosing this type of ballast keep in mind that magnetic ballasts lose a lot of energy in the form of heat, and a couple of magnetic ballasts can easily increase the temperature in your growing room.

At La Huerta Grow Shop you can find the following magnetic ballasts:

Eti 1 Ballast

This model is easily recognizable with its white-painted metal exterior. It can be hung or attached to the wall. This model is slightly heftier than most and produces a lot of heat. The main benefit is its affordable price. It’s available for 250w, 400w and 600w lighting systems.

Eti 2 Ballast

The Eti 2 is exactly the same as the Eti 1 on the inside. However, it has a polyamide fire-resistant exterior and comes with all of the necessary cables – it’s a Plug & Play system. It’s a little less hefty than the Eti 1 and it’s easier to set up, although it’s slightly more expensive.

Pure Light Compact 600w Ballast

This ballast is similar to the Eti 2, although it’s slightly cheaper and produces results of similar quality. Available in 400 and 600w.

Pure Light V2 Ballast

Lastly, we have the Pure Light V2 Ballast, which is also Plug & Play. It’s available in 400 and 600w and comes with a fuse to avoid issues that may damage your bulbs. This is definitely one of the safest magnetic ballast.

Electronic Ballasts

If you decide to go with an electronic ballast, you’re already increasing the quality of your grow.

Electronic ballasts weigh less and let off less heat than magnetic models. They’re more efficient, and lose less energy when it comes to excess heat. They also come with dimmers that allow you to switch out-grow lights of different wattages using the same ballast. This option allows you to use a 400w grow light during the growth period, switching to a 600w light when the flowering period starts.

This allows you to save quite a lot on your electricity bills, which makes up for the price difference. Some electronic ballasts allow you to add an additional 10% to their base wattage, called Super Lumen. With compatible bulbs you can give your plants an extra boost towards the end of the flowering period.

They’re also much safer than magnetic ballasts. They don’t heat up as much, which stops them from overheating and damaging your plants if they turn off. If there’s an electrical surge, they react by decreasing the magnetic field and decreasing light strength. This is safe for you and your plants, as these ballasts keep light flickering to a minimum, unlike other types.

At La Huerta grow Shop you can find the following electronic ballasts:

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Bolt Ballast

This ballast is software-controlled and allows you to choose between four different strengths; 50%, 60%, 600w and Super Lumens. It also has automatic frequency adjustment, soft-start technology and bulb overheating detection. Water-resistant exterior.

Lumatek Ballast with Dimmer

This high quality electronic ballast also comes with a dimmer used to adjust its strength. It’s silent and doesn’t let off heat. It also has a Super Lumen setting which allows you to increase the lights’ maximum strength by 10%. This ballast is available in 4 different models:

• 250w, adjustable to 175w, 150w and Super Lumen
• 400w, adjustable to 300w, 250w and Super Lumen
• 600w, adjustable to 450w, 400w and Super Lumen
• 1000w, adjustable to 750w, 600w and Super Lumen

Lazerlite 600w Pure Light Ballast

This model is definitely the best in as far as price and quality. The Lazerlite 600w electronic ballast is ideal for being used with HPS and MH lights. It can also be used at four different strengths; Super Lumen, which increases the max. by 10%; 600w; 400w and even as low as 250w. It’s ideal of you want to start off growing using low wattage, which allows you to save electricity, and then increasing the strength as your plants grow and flower. These ballasts are silent, safe, and can be attached to the wall up to 15 m from your lights.

Hellion UHF 600 – 750 W (400V) Ballast by Adjust A Wing

This Adjust a Wing ballast has three different settings: 450, 600 and 750w. It’s perfect for being used with Double Ended lights, both sodium vapour and LEC/CMH 630w lighting systems are compatible by choosing 600w on the ballast. This system is silent and safe; it comes with protection against overheating and provides a soft-start in order to simulate the natural daybreak. This ballast can be found in the following kits:

• Hellion DE-HPS 600-750W Enforcer Medium Kit
• Medium Adjust-A-Wings Hellion Defender Kit
• Hellion Medium Profesional Adjust-A-Wings reflector +spreader kit

Platinum Sonic 1000w DE Kit

This kit comes ready to plug and play. It comes with an adjustable electronic ballast, which can be set to 600, 750, 1000w and Super Limen. It also includes an adjustable winged professional DE reflector made out of High Grade Vega aluminium and a HPS DE Green Power 1000w light. The high frequency ballast and professional lighting system produce up to 35% more energy than a standard HPS light.

Gavita Pro Kit

The Gavita Pro Kit comes with an electronic 1000w Gavita Pro ballast and a professional high quality HortiStar HR 96 1000 DE reflector for using with DE lights. This ballast allows you to adjust the strength as follows: 600/660/750/825/1000/1150w. It can also be used with EL lights such as the Philips Green Power 1000w 400v EL (Double Ended). The ballast doesn’t produce much heat at all so it can be places close to the light in order to avoid any interruptions in the connection.

LEC or CMH Electronic Ballasts

These ballasts are specifically designed to be used with LEC lighting. LEC lighting (Light Emitting Diode) is also known as CMH lighting (Ceramic Metal Halide). When growing cannabis indoors using LEC lights, you’re guaranteed better results than when using HPS lights. LEC lights produce light with similar UV and infrared lighting to that of the sun, which improves trichome yield and decreases terpene loss due to excess heat. They produce light that’s similar to sunlight and they don’t blink at all; this makes it easier to detect any problems visually. Plus, they also last much longer than sodium lighting.

Some examples of LEC ballasts are as follows:

LEC CMH 315W Power Kit

This professional lighting kit comes with a reflector and ballast in one, alongside a 315w CMH light that’s ready to hand and start using. This 310w CMH light produces similar results to a 600w HPS system, using almost half the electricity and letting off less heat.

Aurora Lumatek Kit

This kit is similar to the previous kit, which contains a dimmable 315w ballast, a hammertone reflector and CMH/LEC Lumatek 315w reflector. This kit allows you to operate the ballast using a Lumatek Digital Control Panel if you have one.

315w Lumatek Kit

This kit has a Lumatek 315w Ballast, a Lumatek 315w grow light and an E-40 adapter so that you can keep using your own reflector. This kit is great for growers that want to take the next step and start using LEC technology but already have a professional reflector.

630w CMH Lumatek Kit

This kit comes with a ballast and grow light so you can use your preferred DE light.

DE Eco Reflector 630w Lumatek Kit

This kit combines a Lumatek 630w CMH DE ballast alongside a Eco Double Ended hammertone parabolic reflector (47 x 43 x 25 cm). This is the best option if you want to use LEC technology with the highest quality lights and ballast.

630w CMH DE Dimmable Lumatek Ballast

This high-quality electronic ballast using 630w CMH/LEC technology is designed for double ended bulbs and has been tried and tested many times in indoor grows. It has the following characteristics:

• It performs better than 1000w HPS lighting using almost half the electricity while producing less heat, which makes for more and higher quality cannabis.
• Also has complete circuit protection.
• Solent, doesn’t blink.
• Adjustable to 80, 90 and 100%.
• You can also control this ballast externally using the Lumatek Digital Control panel.
• This 630w adjustable Lumatek ballast is available in two kits, with or without reflector.

Growing Advice: Lumatek’s electronic ballasts which come with dimmers can be used remotely using the Lumatek Digital Controller, which must be purchased separately. This device allows you to control the on/off schedule of up to 400 ballasts divided into two 200 channels. These devices can also be used to simulate daybreak and sunset by using a timed dimmer.

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