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It was mentioned before that a lower wattage bulb can be used in a ballast such as 400w in a 600w ballast, am I remembering this correctly? Was this with an electronic or magnetic ballast?? Everything I read and searches I do say no no no. Can we shed some light (hehe) on this?
I have never had an electronic ballast but the principle is the same. A ballast will only pull enough electric for the bulb. If you put a larger bulb in than the ballast the ballast is not rated for that much electric so boom.
However a smaller bulb than ballast and not as much electric passing through there by running cooler too.
My bro runs a 250 in a 600 and I run a 400MH conversion in a 1000HPS ballast.
I don't see why electronic ballast would be dif. I have seen the new ones you can adjust the power to the light to save energy.
Nextgen (ballast company I went with) offers a 400/600 ballast, suppose to run both 400 and 600 bulbs but I really wonder what the "special" part inside would allow this or are they just putting this on the box to sell more. I sent an e-mail to the outfit I bought my ballasts from and asked them the same question and hopefully will hear something soon. I just wanted to make sure that I read things correctly when it was posted last and could not remember where the hell it was posted lol :D Googled the subject and everything I read said dont do it the bulb will blow blah blah blah. Bulb I'm not worried about, thats only $24 but if something shit in the ballast I think it would be time to check me into the nutshack and give me the last name of Looneytoon :wtf:
:thumbsup:quick question...if a ballast produces 1000w(1kw) of power,and you only pull 400w for your lamp,where does the other 600w go?:jointsmile:Quote:
Originally Posted by LOC NAR on probation
Up In Smoke.Quote:
Originally Posted by busybee
Sorry it's the meds. LOL
No the extra power is never there. The current that passes through the ballast is pulled not pushed. So power useage is from the bulb side and you save by not ever using a full strength bulb.
But if the component in a ballast are smaller and say you pull 1000 through a 600 things get real hot and blam. I don't want to be around.
I think the company would just make 600's and sell them for 400's and 600's so you don't have two productions for similar items. Would be a good deal on the 400.
tinytoon I would like to here what the manufacture says also as it's new to me.
still waiting on a reply and that was Growwurks where I bought them from. I gonna send the question to Nextgen themselves and see what they say
Still nothing from Growwurks but I did send an e-mail to the tech dept at cap controllers (they manufacture Nextgen) and found a reply when I got home tonite.
It would not be advisable to use a 400W bulb on a 600W ballast; they are rated for a reason. And using a low wattage bulb on a higher wattage ballast could potentially damage the bulb or the ballast or both. Hope this is helpful.
That was the reply I received from Greg in Tech support. Now he doesnt mention exactly why this cant be done but I cant afford $212 +shipping to see if he is wrong. Maybe there is some difference in the way an electronic ballast works compared to magnetic?? :wtf:
Hell I dont know ....... I'm gonna fire up half dozen bongs or so and go back to E-bay and find the store in Canada that has 600w MH conversion bulbs for $30 :stoned:
:thumbsup:aah,thats what i thought,but wanted to "hear" you "say" it!?:jointsmile:Quote:
Originally Posted by LOC NAR on probation