1000 watt bulb in a 600 watt ballast?

[mtbazz]

I went to my local hydro store today to upgrade my lighting.

I asked for a 1000 watt lumatek dimmable ballast and a 1000 watt hortilux bulb.

Just got home and discovered they gave me a 600 watt ballast and a 1000 watt bulb. Another problem is that i traded in my previous light setup to put towards the cost of this.

I cant get back to the hydro store until next week, and I have some stuff I just started flowering. Can use a 1000 watt bulb in this 600 watt ballast without there being any safety issue until I can return the ballast for the correct one?

 

[supermanlives]

why risk it. its not a good idea to mix and match.use the appropriate bulb or wait

 

[mtbazz]

Yeah but in the meantime I've got plants flowering. The hydro shop is a good 90 minutes away and I can't get there until next week.

What would be the difference between this and using a 1000 watt dimable ballast set to 600 watts .

 

[Keyz]

Well I'd say the difference between the two is that the 1000 watt dimmable ballast is made precisely for that. You change the setting, and the paramaters of the ballast changes. In the case of a 600 watt, it was meant to run only with a 600 watt bulb. All the places I go the 600's and 1000w ballasts are pretty much the same cost, at least the magnetic ballasts are. I'd go ahead and make the 90 minute drive and not risk it myself. But that's just my opinion!!! Hope it all works out for you!

 

[Keyz]

Or even better, if you can't make it out there.. Hop on Craigslist.. Sometimes people will have bulbs for sale, sometimes they'll have a whole lighting system with a few extra bulbs that you can buy relatively cheap. Buy a cheap 600w bulb from there until you can make it to the shop. I mean I've seen them for less than 20 bucks there, so you might be able to find something without having to make a huge expense

 

[mtbazz]

Not really too pysched about buying a bulb from someone on craigslist...

sigh...guess ill be spending another 3 hours in my car today.

 

[Grass Lands]

lesson learned the hard way...make sure you are getting what you paid for...just went to the shop myself and the owner told his help to grab me a couple bags of black gold potting mix...I asked the guy to make sure the bags had no tears or rips and he says sure...and low and behold I move the bag and sure enough there is a big rip and it is spilling soil all over...I looked at the owner and said did I just speak to the wall? needless to say the owner was chewing some ass when I left...piss poor customer service is a sure fire way to lose business...

If it were me I would call the shop and ask them if they could send me a bulb or ballast over night since it was their screw up...

Peace
GL

 

[VIKINGtrich]

Its never good to mix and match bulbs to ballast if they aren't the same wattage, but I do know, that a 600 bulb will work in a 1000 ballast, Im not sure about the other way around.....But again, its not a good thing to do....I would definately drive back to the shop and get that straight, and tell them to give you some good samples for the trouble...thats shitty. Good luck.

 

[Rysam]

Just don't do it. take the drive, It will be cheaper compared to the consequences ie: burnt bulb or worse.

 

[Hammerhead]

If you do that and something burns up then you can not return it. You need to make a special trip back to the store to fix the problem. What ever you need to do.

 

[stagehand099]

I feel for ya, buddy. Why can't the shops look for the best and the brightest instead of employing all the "gangsta" HS dropouts? Most of the people working in the 3 shops near me wouldn't know the difference between N, P or K. I always have to tell them at least twice that if I need them for anything, I'll let them know. Buy your geat on the net and have it sent to a close buddies house.

Just my opinions.

stagehand

 

[mtbazz]

Well, made the trip...

I did have the 1000 watt bulb in the 600 watt ballast for a good 30 minutes before realizing what was up, so hopefully i didnt do any damage to the bulb.

The ballast that I wanted was a 1000 watt lumatek, but all they had was the 1000 watt hydrofarm phantom. I have not read too many things on that one, so hopefully it is a good one.

Is there a special kind of timer I need for this ballast? I have the std. cheapo timer with the plastic pins you put in, but maybe this type of ballast needs something different?

[qoute]"lesson learned the hard way...make sure you are getting what you paid for."[qoute]

Roger that! Usually I do look, yesterday was a bad allergy day, so all I was doing was concentrating on getting home.

 

[supermanlives]

in my garden cheapo timers running 1000 watts dont last long. intermatics from homedepot that can run water heaters ect are a good investment

 

[BIGGERBUD]

I totally agree with Grass Lands, get on the phone and make sure the owner of the shop knows how important it is. It is easy for him to send a ballast, and youd have it in the morning.

Dont take no for an answer, i wouldnt !!!!!

Good luck pal.

 

[halitzor]

Don't use it or they won't take it back possibly.

Or if you must, set it to 500w and use the 600w bulb, hopefully it will ignite.