Error Sensing Electronic/digital Ballasts

[Sativasfied]

I am interested in Flipboxes and was curious if anyone has experience with them, particularly using electronic/digital ballasts.

 

Flipbox states

 

"WARNING - KNOWN COMPATIBILITY ISSUES: ELECTRONIC AND DIGITAL BALLASTS THAT CONTAIN ‘ERROR SENSING’ TECHNOLOGY DO NOT PERFORM WELL WITH FLIPBOXES®. ERROR SENSING TECHNOLOGY IS MEANT TO SHUT THE BALLAST OFF IN THE CASE OF A BULB MALFUNCTION. WHEN THE FLIPBOX® SWITCHES BETWEEN LAMPS, THESE BALLASTS SOMETIMES MISTAKE THE FLIP FOR A BAD BULB AND THE BALLAST SHUTS DOWN. BALLASTS WITH ERROR SENSING TECHNOLOGY, INCLUDING LUMATEK AND NEXTGEN, MAY PERFORM SPORADICALLY AND ARE NOT RECOMMENDED."

 

I had not recalled reading about "error sensing" on any ballast manufacturers literature, and had it not been for the Flipbox, I would not have known. Not going to assume that only Lumatek and Nextgen use this, what about the others? In my application I am interested in using ballasts without this, or ones that have tested their ballasts with flip devices.

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: I am putting info I have gathered here on what ballast manufacturers are saying about "error sensing":

 

Lumatek - Only states the following "Hot Re-strike: It is VERY important that the lamp is given adequate time to cool down before it is reignited. You should allow a hot lamp to cool for 20-30 minutes before you try to re-strike it. Hot re-strikes cause premature lamp failure and lumen output degradation. Additionally, the lamp should never be turned off before the lamp reaches full intensity."

 

Phantom Ballasts by Hydrofarm - "The Phantom line of ballasts has built in hot-restrike programming to protect the lamp and ballast in the event of the ballast turning off unexpectedly. The ballast will not attempt to restart a hot lamp for at

least 15 minutes.

 

NextGen Ballasts by C.A.P. - "Hot Lamp Restart in Less than 2 Minutes"

 

Quantum Ballasts by Quantum Horticulture - "GENSET & FLIP – BOX READY"

[Sativasfied]

Thanks Bubblegrower.

[Grow Thread]

this is a good spot for your thread.

 

you will get the most action here

 

and i use both quantam and spectrum series digital ballasts.