Ballast question

[HeartCore]

Hi all

I got a 400W MH lamp with a ballast. Also have a 600W HPS for flowering, also with a ballast.

Problem is, I'm vegging with the 400W but the weather is just too hot. I can manage temps with difficulty. If the weather doesnt change soon, I will have major problems with flowering once I switch to 600HPS.

What I want to do is to get a 400W HPS bulb for flowering, I'll use the 600W exclusively in winter. Question is, can a 400W HPS bulb be safely connected to the ballast of a 400W MH?

Thanks
HC

[slowthestone]

If it's an old school magnetic ballast...do not go mixing the wrong bulb to the wrong ballast.

There are some magnetic ballasts that have dual function capabilities...I'm thinking though if you had one of those you'd already know it.

Going the way of the digital ballasts will givea grower more flexibility as one of the key features of that type is being in being able to safely run either MH or HPS. They're a damn site cooler than magnetic ballasts too.

[HeartCore]

Allright...seems that I cannot get away with it then. Being pulled between two options now, increasing the space of my cabinet or buying a complete 400W HPS lamp. Think I will go with the first one since I've already used double the budget for this room compared to what I estimated towards my girlfriend ;)

Also, its ofcourse always better to use the 600W HPS instead of 400.


Thanks for the answer

[graph]

Have you thought about buying a dual ballast?

I mean, it may save you money in the end, because when you can afford (both financially and temperature...ly)to put in another light, you'll already have a ballast for it.

[slowthestone]

If I was about to lay out money for a new ballast...it'd be an electronic type...the difference in price is marginal (comes back to you via you power bill)...that and, an electronic ballast is just...better.

[HeartCore]

Thought about that yes but its currently no option. I already have a complete 400MH and a 600HPS. Since we have extremely high temps in holland at the moment, I hoped I could just get a 400HPS bulb and use that temporarily untill temps drop enough to use the 600.

For next grow I'll rebuild my setup anyway and will surely consider dual ballast.

[graph]

Man, I'm really sorry to hear the heat's affecting you guys so bad. Maybe build your own cooltube, I've seen some people on this site do it for pretty cheap, and you might be able to try for even cheaper.

I'll keep thinking about this. It would be sad to see such a waste after so much hard work.

[slowthestone]

Start growing at night!

I had the same problem for abit till the obvious occured to me.

''Its cooler in the evenings...why am I growing during day time?''

[HeartCore]

Coolltube--> yes very nice, looked at those and am kindof looking for a suitable glass.

Growing at night --> Yes true, already doing that. Lights on at 18:00 and off at 12:00. When I start flowering I'm going to do 18:00-6:00. Tempted to do 21:00-9 but that leaves little time during weekday evenings to work in it.

[slowthestone]

I keep wondering whats so cool about those tubes.

Those things will burn ya!

Personally, I employed the use of the screen cover on our big screen TV. All I had to do was suspend it tween the light and the plants...using monofilament line...it looks to just be hanging in mid-air.

The temp on the light side is a full 60+ °F than the temp on the plant side.

[HeartCore]

So do you think that basically any glass plate would work as long as its not too thick?

[Tom Swierzbinski]

As long as its tempered glass then youll be fine. Another thing about electronic ballasts - Ive read that you get 10% more lumens from them, and they also use 10% less electricity.

[pastor420]

HeartCore, you can get what is called a HPS conversion bulb that will screw right into your existing Metal Halide system. Here is a page with an example of this type of bulb:
http://www.specialty-lights.com/10010.html

Hope this helps

[Jdog7000]

They are called conversion bulbs.
And this is what they are for.

[orangeman]

Just sell that 400 watt that you spent a wad of cash on and replace that with 8 good CFL's and use the extra money for something good like more grow gear :thumbsup:.

[SpiritLevel]

Errr, You CAN interchange between MH & HPS bulbs providing you ENSURE the Power (watts) rating of the bulb is identical to the Power distribution of the ballast. I'm sure that was your initial question!! You do not need to by different ballasts for MH & HPS as far as I am aware

Or did u make an error

[SpiritLevel]

Start growing at night!

I had the same problem for abit till the obvious occured to me.

''Its cooler in the evenings...why am I growing during day time?''
REversing the cycle helps us a lot tooo... if we kept our 4 600w on during the day at the moment it would be 40celcius with all the fans on and extactors because its soo warm outside.. reversing means nice dark period and similar temperature day cycle.. stable is the word

[Tom Swierzbinski]

REversing the cycle helps us a lot tooo... if we kept our 4 600w on during the day at the moment it would be 40celcius with all the fans on and extactors because its soo warm outside.. reversing means nice dark period and similar temperature day cycle.. stable is the word

There was something I read in an old issue of High Times about temperature differences making shorter internodes... Ill email one of the mods and ask if it can be a FAQ if I write it up...

[smokinbass]

[QUOTE=HeartCore]Hi all

I got a 400W MH lamp with a ballast. Also have a 600W HPS for flowering, also with a ballast.

Problem is, I'm vegging with the 400W but the weather is just too hot. I can manage temps with difficulty. If the weather doesnt change soon, I will have major problems with flowering once I switch to 600HPS.

What I want to do is to get a 400W HPS bulb for flowering, I'll use the 600W exclusively in winter. Question is, can a 400W HPS bulb be safely connected to the ballast of a 400W MH?

400 MH Conversion Bulb (36,000 lumens)
- operates on 400 HPS ballast

http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/lights4.shtml


then u have the option of using both ballasts 400+600 = woohooo

[spliffonshik]

HeartCore, you can get what is called a HPS conversion bulb that will screw right into your existing Metal Halide system. Here is a page with an example of this type of bulb:
http://www.specialty-lights.com/10010.html

Hope this helps

I know that conversion bulbs (MH > HPS) lower their watts - for an example 400 w conversion bulb will give 360 watts of HPS... (as far as I know it doesn't go this way vice versa)
Actually, I'd like to know how much in the difference of temperture will it give if buy such a conversion bulb for MH system.