^^^^Making a Grow Light^^^

[Completely Stoned]

If anyone has a guide or could make a guide on how to go to lowe's/Home Depot and get the stuff to build myself a 250W HPS Ballast that will work and get me buds, you should PROBABLY post it lol...

Completely Stoned Reviewed by Completely Stoned on 11-29-2006. ^^^^Making a Grow Light^^^ If anyone has a guide or could make a guide on how to go to lowe's/Home Depot and get the stuff to build myself a 250W HPS Ballast that will work and get me buds, you should PROBABLY post it lol... Rating: 5

[BONG0]

You can buy them online un assembled hmm let me think i might be able to help....

[BONG0]

HID Ballast.
One of the best ways to save a bundle on equipment is to wire up your own lights from a kit. By buying the parts unassembled, you can probably construct a light for half of what it costs you at a hydro shop. As well, you can avoid the paranoia involved in shopping there. But I can understand that many of you might be reluctant to work with wires and electricity. That is certainly understandable. But it isn't nearly as difficult as you might think.

Let's take a second to examine what is inside a ballast. There really isn't much, especially depending on which type of light you buy. A HPS ballast consists of 3 parts: The transformer, the capacitor and the igniter. A metal halide generally has just the transformer and capacitor.

Every single one of these parts is available at pretty much any lighting or electrical supply wharehouse, including the bulb and socket. Break out the phone book and look in the yellow pages under "lighting". Call them and ask if they carry "Transformer, capacitor, ignitor (if for HPS), and socket" for whatever size (150, 400, 1000, etc) and type (Metal halide or High pressure sodium) light you wish to purchase. Odds are, they will have it. If not, try another store until you find the one which has what you want. You can also order this stuff from many online electrical supply places. There is virtually no worry about having this stuff shipped to your house, since it did not come from a "high profile" hydro shop.

When you get to the store, you are going to ask for the ballast components, a socket and bulb in whatever size and type you want. The person working there will probably ask you what voltage you need. This is important because the ballast has to be made to run on the voltage at your house. Most houses in the US are wired for 120 volts. So that is the rating you need for your parts. If your house happens to have a different voltage (say, 210) then you need the corresponding ballast parts. Find out if your house has a voltage different than 120 before you get to the store. Another option is to purchase what is known as a "multi-tap" ballast. This type has a special wire inside which you move around and attach in one spot or another depending on the voltage of your house. Some stores may only carry multi-tap ballasts to save money on stock. No matter. A multi-tap ballast will work fine in any situation. Multi-tap ballasts usually have the following options inside: 120/208/240 and 277 volts.

Besides the Transformer, igniter, capacitor, bulb and socket, you are going to also need the following:

About 20 feet of 14 (or better) gauge wire
A "male" plug set
About 8 "wire nuts"

The wire and the plug are for installing the power cord and socket to your ballast. You can also simply buy a long heavy duty extension cord, which you will then cut up. Whatever wire you buy, make sure it is rated to at least 15 amps and 1500 watts (14 gauge). That size is good for wiring all the way up to 1000W lights.

Now, when you get your parts, you will also likely get a wiring diagram. It may come on a separate sheet of paper, but more than likely it will be on a label on the transformer. Let's take a look at a wiring diagram. I have added a few descriptions for the sake of clarity, but the basic schematic is the same. This is for a HPS lamp and describes the wiring for the 3 internal components and the socket.

See Picture #1 In Ballast Folder

Metal Halide

If you want a metal halide light, your task is even easier because now you only have the transformer and capacitor to work with and no igniter. This is for standard metal halide ballasts. On occasion, you run into a MH ballast which has an igniter. Try not to get this kind if you can. If this is the only option, then follow the instructions for HPS ballasts.

Connect the wire labeled "cap" coming from the transformer's long side to the capacitor.

Connect the other wire coming from the capacitor (labeled "lamp") to the black socket wire. (note: see instructions in HPS section on lengthening socket wires if you need to).

The transformers short side will either have 1 or 2 wires coming from it labeled "com". If there is only one, then connect that wire with both the socket's white wire and the power cord's white wire. If there are 2 "com" wires, then pick one and connect it to the socket's white wire. Then connect the other "com" wire to the power cord's white wire.

Connect the power cord's black wire to the transformer's short side wire labeled "volts" or "120" (or whatever voltage you have). See the HPS section for more info on connecting with a mutli-tap ballast.



Testing!

Now, even though it will work without it (and even though it got left out of all the illustrations), I recommend grounding the socket and power cords. The grounds are the green wires coming from these 2 cords. Both of these wires should be attached either to the metal base of the transformer or to the inside of the ballast box if it is made of metal. The other end of the socket ground gets attached to the metal part of the reflector. When I post the instructions on ballast box and reflector assembly, I will include a quick step on doing this.

Ok, double check all your work and make sure you did it right. Are all the wires joined properly? Are all the wire nuts screwed down tightly? Can you see any bare wire sticking out below a wire nut? If you answered uh...yes, yes and no to these questions, then it's time to test fire. Screw the bulb in to the socket, then plug the thing in. It should hum and the bulb should come on almost immediately. If it doesn't or if you see or hear anything unusual, then unplug it. Most likely, if you made a mistake, then the bulb simply will not light. There isn't much chance of a fire or explosion, but you might see a spark or two. You will have to wait about 5 minutes before messing around to figure out what went wrong. This is because the capacitor holds electricity and you may get shocked if you touch the wrong wire. Double check everything and try again.

A quick word about bulbs. High pressure sodium bulbs can be burned in any position. When you buy a metal halide bulb, you need to know what position it will burn in. There are bulbs made only for horizontal placement, base-up placement, vertical (base-down) and universal. The universal bulb can burn in any position, but it is not quite as bright (maybe 5% less) as the position specific bulbs. If you use a specifically horizontal MH bulb, then you also will need a special socket. I will suggest just going with a universal bulb and socket. It makes life easier if you ever change bulb positions.

Now, you could conceivably just put the ballast parts onto a piece of wood, but what you really want is a self contained box to mount the stuff in so it will be protected from water and dirt.



Wiring 2 Rooms With 1 Ballast

You know I just had this thought about riggin a relay between the ballast and two seperate lights like assume the ballast is on a wall between two grow rooms. So you could switch rooms/lights but use half the number of ballasts. Of course this takes more relays and more wiring. Heres a diagram, I've not used it, but friends I know are.

See Image 2 for multi tap ballast Diagram.

[Volker]

If anyone has a guide or could make a guide on how to go to lowe's/Home Depot and get the stuff to build myself a 250W HPS Ballast that will work and get me buds, you should PROBABLY post it lol...

Alternative: 10 x 27W CFT (avail in 6500K & 2700K spectra) (270W) wired in parallel:
|-X-|
|-X-|
|-X-|
etc.

Better for small, enclosed spaces than a hi-watt HID, but more $$ outlay if you buying. (I did mine "add as you grow" with salvage sockets/fixtures & "donated" bulbs)

[BONG0]

Hey, Completely Stoned are you there?? how did it gow did you read my last post? did it help at all? or did you try to rewire and electricute yourself last night??

[BONG0]

I think he burned his house down or electricuted himself overnight....??

[VOYAGER]

I absorbed the info Bongo, it was pretty informative, i think i might price the parts and see what it'll come out to.

[faithless]

.

That seems doable with one of those candle covers.
But that kind of glass isn't much of an insulator, so the rate of removed air through the tunnel is enough to cool the bulb down that much?

Also, Would it work if the cool tube cover was slided on from the other end, the tip of the bulb? That would seem easier to construct for me?

.

[TheGreenFog]

BONG0, You know what - I'm just gonna flower them and let you get back to pissing in your hydro.

I think he burned his house down or electricuted himself overnight....??

Here is BONG0 trying to piss on CS's hydro...but it's too late!



Sorry, I couldn't resist. No hard feelings.


:rasta:

TGF