HPS Question

[Zandor]

I have been running a 400w MH bulb against my 1000w ballast for a lot of years -- 16 years on this one. Probably 30 years altogether. It's a noisy proposition -- sounds like a herd of africanized killer turtles stampeding thru the laundry room -- but neither the bulbs nor the plants seem to mind either the setup or the noise. I replace bulbs about every year on general priciples, but never because I blew out or fogged a bulb. Now I'm thinking this isn't the most efficient way to use a 1kva power supply, but it's what I've got, and I can add a 2nd bulb to the mix if I care to without adding a ballast. And I can tell small children there's a herd of africanized killer turtles stampeding in the lanudry room, and they stay out of it.

You can't just wire in a second bulb with out wiring in another set of caps. MH bulbs still need a cap to boost the first few seconds of power to light the gas inside the bulb. Even if you have a 1000w transformer with a 400w bulb. Sure the bulb will work I have done it my self for many years but trying to run 2 bulbs from the same 1000w transformer same cap will not work. You need to wire in a second set of caps to run parallel

[rodekyll]

Maybe I misued the term "ballast". I'm claiming that I don't need to bring in a complete different transformer unit to add bulbs up to 1000w total. This saves power, heat, noise, and space. I'm not claiming that it can be done by simply adding a bulb in Yes, these things have a capacitor to deliver the first jolt of juice. Yes, these bulbs do not run in series, and it seems reasonable that one cap can't fire two bulbs running in parallel -- can it? But including a 2nd capacitor adds nothing to the economic or environmental overhead. Adding a second ballast/transformer does.

[turtle420]

a herd of africanized killer turtles

Ahahahahaaa!!!! lol

Watch out!!!

[Zandor]

Maybe I misued the term "ballast". I'm claiming that I don't need to bring in a complete different transformer unit to add bulbs up to 1000w total. This saves power, heat, noise, and space. I'm not claiming that it can be done by simply adding a bulb in Yes, these things have a capacitor to deliver the first jolt of juice. Yes, these bulbs do not run in series, and it seems reasonable that one cap can't fire two bulbs running in parallel -- can it? But including a 2nd capacitor adds nothing to the economic or environmental overhead. Adding a second ballast/transformer does.

That clarifierâ??s your point now. The way you said it before could have been confusing I just wanted to clarify the point before someone read this and then tried to splice into their cord and wire in a second socket .....lol

You know someone would try it too....:smokin: