Hey buddy

Yeah, you need a ballast.

A ballast takes the electricity from your wall socket, mixes it up with some magic potions and small little green men inside the box, throws in some Tabasco, and out the other end, you can plug in your 250W HPS.

You can't run a HPS bulb straight from the electrical outlet of the wall.

You need a HPS ballast for a HPS bulb.
You need a MH ballast for a MH bulb.
There are "conversion" bulbs... they'll run on the 'other' ballast.

turtle420 Reviewed by turtle420 on . 250 watt hps,help!! I'm thinking about buying a 250 you need to buy a ballast to run these lights? take a look at the link please. the bulb I am buying is 250W Philips Son-T Plus HPS and do these need a ballast to run the lights and what exactly does a ballast do? lamps and reflectors Rating: 5