600w bulb with 400w ballast?

[manzarek]

Hi All

I have a couple of 400 watt ballasts and 400 watt bulbs.
I was wanting to nkow if i can use 600 watt bulbs with the 400 watt ballast or will this blow the bulb?

Thanks

manzarek Reviewed by manzarek on 05-02-2008. 600w bulb with 400w ballast? Hi All I have a couple of 400 watt ballasts and 400 watt bulbs. I was wanting to nkow if i can use 600 watt bulbs with the 400 watt ballast or will this blow the bulb? Thanks Rating: 5

[justanotherbozo]

here's some info that should answer your question

Contributed by: Flowerman

Yes Ballasts and Bulbs Should be Matched.

HID bulbs generally need specific ballasts, and any given ballast can usually safely and effectively operate only one type or a few types of HID bulbs.

The bulb wattage must be matched to the ballast. A smaller bulb will usually be fed a wattage close to what the proper bulb takes, and will generally overheat and may catastrophically fail. Any catastrophic failures may not necessarily happen quickly. A larger bulb will be underpowered, and will operate at reduced efficiency and may have a shortened lifetime. The ballast may also overheat from prolonged operation with an oversized bulb that fails to warm.

Even if the ballast and bulb wattages match, substitutions can be limited by various factors including but not limited to different operating voltages for different bulbs. Examples are:

Pulse-start sodium lamps often have a slightly lower operating voltage than metal halide and mercury lamps of the same wattage, and ballasts for these sodium bulbs provide slightly more current than mercury and metal halide ballasts for the same wattage would. The higher current provided by the pulse-start sodium ballast can overheat mercury and metal halide lamps. Mercury and metal halide lamps may also "cycle" on and off in lower voltage sodium ballasts, such as many 50 to 100 watt ones.

Metal halide lamps have an operating voltage close to that of mercury lamps in many wattages, but have stricter tolerances for wattage and current waveform. Metal halides also usually need a higher starting voltage. Most metal halide lamps 100 watts or smaller require a high voltage starting pulse around or even over 1,000 volts.
175 to 400 watt metal halide lamp ballasts can power mercury lamps of the same wattage, but the reverse is not recommended.

Mercury lamps 50 to 100 watts will work on metal halide ballasts, but hot re-striking of mercury lamps 100 watts or smaller on metal halide lamps may be hard on the mercury lamp since the starting pulse can force current through cold electrodes and the starting resistor inside the mercury lamp.

1,000 watt mercury lamps come in two operating voltages, one of which is OK for 1,000 watt metal halide ballasts. A few wattages of pulse-start sodium (150 watts?) come in two

[stinkyattic]

Don't do it! You could at the very least shorten the life of your bulb and/or ballast, and at worst, end up with the bulb actually breaking.
Please don't give this sort of advice: "in theory it would work" when you don't actually have a good concept of the 'theory'. In theory, you should NEVER mismatch electrical components!

[Mr. Clandestine]

In theory, you should NEVER mismatch electrical components!

That's advice you can take to the bank. Electricity doesn't fuck around, and neither does fire. Why risk it? Just get a 600w ballast if you're desperate to have a 600w bulb lighting the room, otherwise, in theory you should always have a bulb that matches the specifications on the ballast, or in theory, things can go really wrong, really fast.

[justanotherbozo]

Don't do it! You could at the very least shorten the life of your bulb and/or ballast, and at worst, end up with the bulb actually breaking.
Please don't give this sort of advice: "in theory it would work" when you don't actually have a good concept of the 'theory'. In theory, you should NEVER mismatch electrical components!

first of all, this info came from an impeccable source, Overgrow, second if you read it you will see that it says to NOT mix and match.
"Yes Ballasts and Bulbs SHOULD BE MATCHED."

"The bulb wattage MUST BE matched to the ballast. A smaller bulb will usually be fed a wattage close to what the proper bulb takes, and will generally overheat and may catastrophically fail. Any catastrophic failures may not necessarily happen quickly. A LARGER bulb WILL be UNDERpowered, and will operate at REDUCED efficiency and may have a shortened lifetime. The ballast may also overheat from prolonged operation with an oversized bulb that fails to warm."

i quoted overgrow rather than speak from experience because i don't have any with HID's (actually, i used 2 175watt MV's for my first grow ever). i just tried to help the guy.