good question....

[cptweedmanguy]

can you really use a metal halide bulb in a hps ballast?:confused:

[Villui]

i think only a mh conversion bulb unless its a multy use ballast

[busteruk7]

what will happenif ya do get them mixed up will the bulb explode or summat

[smoknjoe]

This website claims that its possible to use a MH lamp in a HPS fixture without problems.

http://www.electriclamp.co.uk/sodium.html

Interesting...... someone test it out and let us know!!

[smoknjoe]

Nevermind, someone already tried it. Here is the forum thread from which I got that link. It worked for this guy.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=17969

I'm still not sure I would do it. I would worry too much about equipment failure or worse, fire. But here's proof that it can work.

[jakenthegentiles]

it works for me i have a 1000 watt hps lamp with a 1000 matt mh convershion bulb it gets so hot it can keep half my house warm

[smoknjoe]

Thats what conversion bulbs are supposed to do. I believe we were speaking of regular MH bulbs.

My electric bill barely went up once I started growing since I rarely need to use the heater anymore :dance:

[Garden Knowm]

Recently someone on here put the wrong bulb inthe wrong fixture.. cant remember if it was MH in HPS or HPS in MH.. but they said that the bulb began to flicker after about 1 hour...

electricity is GNARLEY.. be careful

[karmaxul]

Seems strange they would make a MH convertion bulb if you could just plug in a MH. It may work fine you a while but are you getting the potential of the bulb and is it going to last as long. It may just burn out all of a sudden and do you really want to stress your ladies or burn down your house. Try calling phillips or GE and ask the tech support.

[Kush Over]

I don't see why it wouldn't work --- HPS ballasts contain all the necessary components to power the MH, basically all the same bits except for the igniter.

[karmaxul]

The igniter will not damage the MH bulb? Anyone know how the igniter works?