****Ghetto Mercury Vapor****

Here's the ballast I stole from that light pole and i wired it all up like you guys said. Green to ground :) We bought a bulb and it F'n worked. EUREKA I love it lol. It's pretty damned bright but it looks like its more on the BLUE Spectrum to me so... I dunno. Does this Light have any growing value and can it be used for flowering? I guess what I mean is: Is this Mercury Vapor 175W ballast and bulb better for flowering and overall growing than 6 23W CFL's?

P.S. I'll have the ballast mounted to a board and chains and a WHOLE bunch of other struff today so be prepared to see my grow log! LOTS OF UPDATES!!!

why do u think its mercury vapor if u jacked it? how do u know? i would suggest using the CFLs along with the new fixture, and use some tin foil to make a reflecter under it.

I've read on here some people using MV lights...but I think they found out that isn't really the best spectrum. Do a search on it, I did when I saw that lowe's had mercury vapor lights for 30 bucks....I decided not to use them after the search btw. But maybe it is like the pp mentioned, in conjunction with cfl maybe okay?

...Mercury Vapor?....you got the right string ..baby...but the wrong yo-yo..

High Pressure Sodium..or Metal Halide..bulbs...preferred...CFL's after that...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dutch Pimp

...Mercury Vapor?....you got the right string ..baby...but the wrong yo-yo..

High Pressure Sodium..or Metal Halide..bulbs...preferred...CFL's after that...

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^LOL...good line. Yea, I'm having doubts about the Mercury Vapor use. You are really putting yourself in a challenging position if you try to use those. They are not the proper spectrum to grow MJ.



Also, stealing lights is not good. Go buy one...or trade out for one. Jacking stuff is not necessarily smiled upon here. :(

Think of it this way:

1. You steal a light fixture from a streetlamp or something.
2. Electric company finds out...and reports the theft to the police.
3. The police then do investigative research into the theft and monitor electricity usage in the area.
4. 5 growers in the area are busted because of your stealing a stupid light.

It's not worth it, man. Especially not to come and brag about it.


I'm not trying to get on your case, CS, just giving you a heads up. Karma, man, karma. Go return the light and buy a bunch of CFLs and/or an HPS.

Take care...


:rastasmoke:

TGF

Ditto....

MV lights were used in the past but MH lights nearly replaced them. they are a little off the spectrum range being a little to blue.

How were you able to scale a phone pole and take that off from there? u obvously had to break some wires with force, the enersha from your weight pulling it off dident make you fall?

K this light fixture is so old and not even used anymore. It just sat there being useless so I put it to good use. It was right next to my friends house who doesnt need it. It's alright for me to have stolen this. I'm sorry it is stealing but i dont have $150 to buy an HPS. I went and bought a Metal Halide bulb today though and put it in there. I got the metal halide to work up to full brightness! BUT now I cant even get it to spark yet the MV bulb still works. So WTF? The MH bulb was very very difficult to get to light up as well. It took like a dozen tries. I dont understand how this MH bulb works but damned if i could get it to glow and work properly.. I'd have buds. Good buds...

You cant just put a (now) probably burned out MH light in a MV fixture. Lowes had some pretty cheap MH fixtures...

:eek: Isn't that your flat up there, CS? :eek:


;) hehe j/k


:rastasmoke:

TGF

I dont think $100 is very cheap for a 175W MH fixture when I could buy a 250W HPS set for $105 off inisdesun.com

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Originally Posted by Completely Stoned

I dont think $100 is very cheap for a 175W MH fixture when I could buy a 250W HPS set for $105 off inisdesun.com

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..."I love it..when a plan comes together"...Hannibal...A-Team.

i used mv lights (175w, just like you have there) with little success. i'm assuming you are growing from seed so, here's what i did... maybe you can follow my lead.

and btw, mh uses a different kind of ballast, however, the only difference between an mh and an hps is the hps has an ignitor, the mh does not...

http://www.onlinepot.org/grow/wiringlights.htm

3 mv 175w had very little effect on plants, and caused major heat probs. i went to lowes and got a double 48" flourecent fixture for 12$ and two GE daylight 40w t12 (3050lum ea., 6500k) for 5$ ea. these produce very littles heat, so the lights can be right on top of the plants, even touching without any burning...

immediate turnaround on the veg cycle, i've not had as good of results outdours as i had with these lights! ended up having to add another double, but they're amazing for veg.

if you are starting from seed, you'll have 4-8 weeks before you can flower your plants (they have to reach sexual maturity before they will show sex). that should give you plenty of time to get a ballast. i don't recomend anything less than a 400w though...

if you can find old used security lights (fleamarket, junk yard, lowes change out...) they are generally 400mh; you can convert these by purchasing a 50$ ignitor.

hope this helps...

love, kp:p

oh yeah, and don't steal lights... bad karma...

lol yay KP. i had posted the same guide for the ballast in his other thred asking on how to wire one, u got the right idea girl, seems like you and i share the same info resources on growing :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheGreenFog

:eek: Isn't that your flat up there, CS? :

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Love ya f[r]og!

Seriously... "stole it and wired it like we all told you to''?

Um, no. Don't steal shit. I don't care if you think no one is using it... wait til it's IN THE DUMPSTER FIRST.

true, don't steal, bad karma, much worse than killing spider mites, lol...

bongo, i like your stlye babe, come see us some time...

you too f<r>og, you're the one that's missing...

http://boards.cannabis.com/showthrea...t=92398&page=2

look forward to hearing from you guys:)

love, kp:p