HQI Magnetic VS Electronic Ballast Question

Fishcrazy06 · Nov 12, 2009

What is the main Difference? Better energy savings running the electronic? There any drawbacks to one to the other? I have a dual HQI Magnetic that one side isn't working correctly. Thinking of replacing it but not sure what would be the better option to do. Thanks

Eric

benny z · Nov 12, 2009

magnetic will drive the bulb harder. usually gives more par output, and will make the bluer bulbs like phoenix 14k look more white.

FateX8 · Nov 12, 2009

magnetic ballasts in general draw more wattage then electronic ballasts
they actually overdrive bulbs which is why a lot of people want magnetic
you get a higher par value, for the most part, with magnetic because of the overdriving but that also decreases bulb life
electronic ballasts give a real to life wattage, when it says 150w it produces close to 150, usually a little under from what i recall
im not 100% sure on this anymore since thats how it used to be back in the day when i was researching on ballasts but that was years ago

5DC · Nov 12, 2009

My 2 cents is your limited with the magnetic. For example if you wanted to switch over to a mogul socket, depending on which magnetic ballast you have you could run in to a conflict. On the other hand lots of people use HQI magnetic ballast to overdrive 250 radiums for example. In actuality it is a HPS ballast but I digress... Magnetic ballast are what they are, they will not lower themselves if a bulb is crying for mercy and they will not increase themselves if a bulb is begging for more. In other words they put out a fixed amount of power. Which is why different ballast are better suited to different bulbs. Not to mention the whole pulse start vs probe start bit.

Sorry I rambled. Ultimately I go for electronics because they have more versatility and can more readily accommodate a myriad of bulbs. Nevertheless, you can replace the guts in that magnetic ballast for about 60 bucks so it would be relatively cheap to fix what you have.

PM me if you want info on getting new guts...

Also different electronic ballast will overdrive your bulbs slightly as well. For example, Icecap's seem to overdrive a bit more than some other electronics. Food for thought

/d

iani · Nov 12, 2009

HQI ballast do drive bulbs harder than electronic ballasts(icecap 250w = actual ~260w, HQI 250w = actual ~320w). However, some bulbs are made to run on HQI ballasts. ie. 250w radium 20k. 250w radiums are made to run on HQI ballasts and typically bulb life will not suffer much on one.

benny z · Nov 12, 2009

ushio bulbs are also intended to be run on magnetic hqi...

Fishcrazy06 · Nov 12, 2009

I am running XM's right now and I like how they look. I run a DE fixture. I have a PM out to 5DC. If I can fix this why replace something that is possible to fix....Just curious on how much the energy savings is.

Eric

iani · Nov 12, 2009

You may want to look into having a bluewave dual HQI ballast ordered by your LFS. I know SLS is clearing them out for CHEAP. They are no longer making them.

Fishcrazy06 · Nov 12, 2009

thats what I have is the dual and one side of it isn't working. It does but it won't fire the bulb.

Eric

luke33 · Nov 12, 2009

Yep, hqi bulb's go with a magnetic m80, se bulb's go with an electronic ballast. Many of the eballasts are about the same these days. I tend to like the blue wave's because the ease of connections. No wiring at all. But if i ran se bulb's i'd go the eballast route. Gallaxy's, IC, Vertex, lumentec's are all going to yield similar results imo. The phoenix is nearly white with a hint of blue with the m80's but with a eballast are a blue blue.

iani · Nov 12, 2009

As I stated earlier the radium SE 250w bulb was made to run on a HQI ballast. Not all SE bulbs run best on electronic ballasts.

Fishcrazy06 · Nov 12, 2009

I understand that certain bulbs will look different between the two ballasts. However, is the cost savings that significant going from Magnetic to Electronic?

Eric

Harry_Y · Nov 12, 2009

benny z said:
magnetic will drive the bulb harder. usually gives more par output, and will make the bluer bulbs like phoenix 14k look more white.

Is that also true for Fluorescent lights as well?

benny z · Nov 12, 2009

completely different animal. i don't know of any magnetic flourescent ballasts...

Harry_Y · Nov 12, 2009

benny z said:
completely different animal. i don't know of any magnetic flourescent ballasts...

Thank you

cwk84 · Jul 23, 2019

I'm sorry for digging this thread up but reading all of this makes me wonder if anyone on the internet actually really knows what they're talking about. Everyone says something different. There are electronic HQI and magnetic HQI. I do not understand why one ballast would drive a bulb "harder" than the other when both have a HQI setting. One says xyz bulb needs a magnetic ballasts and the other says it doesn't matter. I've seen some pictures of 14k bulbs on various ballasts. They all look the same if they are overdriven no matter what type of ballast. If someone with a background in electronics could explain to me why magnetic ballasts drive bulbs "harder" I'd highly appreciate it.