250watt bulb to a 400watt ballast

[brooklyn420]

What happens when you use a 250 watt hps bulb with a 400watt hps ballast

i have a self ballasted reflector thats 400watt and i put a 250wat bulb in it and it lit up for 20 minutes until i shut it off. Is this safe?

brooklyn420 Reviewed by brooklyn420 on 01-23-2007. 250watt bulb to a 400watt ballast What happens when you use a 250 watt hps bulb with a 400watt hps ballast i have a self ballasted reflector thats 400watt and i put a 250wat bulb in it and it lit up for 20 minutes until i shut it off. Is this safe? Rating: 5

[JackdaWack]

i wouldnt think so...... ur kinda stupid for trying if i may say so too. you could have fried the ballast along with the bulb, it could have been worse, i wouldnt do it again

[brooklyn420]

how long does it take for a 400watt hps bulb to get to full temperature im thinking if it runs for an hour it will be fine.

has anyone ever tried this?

if you just think it wont work and have not tried this please dont reply. will all due respect.

[brooklyn420]

Jack Dweck

[stinkyattic]

if you just think it wont work and have not tried this please dont reply. will all due respect.

With all due respect, you don't need to have tried it to know it is a bad idea.

All you need to know is a bit about electricity.

You cannot mix and match your HID components. They are only designed to run at the specified wattage.

The best you can hope for is to DRAMATICALLY shorten your bulb life... to mere HOURS rather than the expected year or more of daily use.

The worst you can hope for is a fire.

So with all due respect, don't ask a question and then wait until someone gives you the answer you want to hear... listen to the people who are telling you SAFETY FIRST.

[stinkyattic]

Oh and if what I'm hearing is that you are in a sort of emergency situation where you don't have enough lights because your bulb burned out and you didn't have a spare, that's why you should keep a bunch of CFL lamps around... one or 2 day/night cycles under flouros isn't going to hurt your plants as long as they get SOME light and the schedule does not change.

[Shovelhandle]

I answered this question on another post recently.
I had a customer who kept replacing 400W HPS lamps and then asked me why they only last a day or a week at most. I found that he was putting the 400W lamps in a 1000W fixture.
But what do I know. I'm an electrician and I've never tried some of these "experiments" myself....<G>

Shov