400 watt mh or hps??????

[hilbie]

with one light id go for yeild and get an hps, half way through flower i would add a few 6400 k cfls for some blue thc enhanceing, but id focus on the hps-

 

[Scrogerman]

Thas cool man, but he said it was a sunleaves ballast. Sunleaves switchable ballasts have a switch on them to enable or disable the ignitor. If ther is no switch, the ballast wasnt the same one as the box originally held. I am not aware of a traditional magnetic balllast that is capable of recognizing a mh vs hps lamp. There is no smart chip of some kind in them just a ballast, capacitor (and an ignitor if it runs hps.)
RM

Thanks for the sharing dude.
Peace & Be-Lucky........................Scrog'

 

[tokerofdakill]

I assume the 400 ballast is a standard coil ballast not a digital?
If ther is no switch on the ballast cover it isnt switchable.
HPS bulbs need an ignitor to get them started. mh bulbs do not except with the pulse start mh's. If your 400 was switchable it would have an ignitor in the box. THe switch on the ballast box is used to bypass the current so the ignitor isnt part of the circuit when running a mh bulb with it. The only way it will work wit hps is if you took it apart and rewired it with an ignitor. Not worth the safety factor compared to the lowcost of a 400 watt coil ballast.
If you want to keep it cheap, go with the mh bulb you have now and add some flourescent lighting to supplement with a lower kelvin rating as was mentioned earlier.
You could use a conversion bulb like the hortilux ace i think its called or the less expensive sumaster but both are almost as expensive as a new 400 watt magnetic coil ballast.
you can get 125w cfl's that are 2700 kelvin for $40 or less.
One of them would add a good amount of orange to red light and increase your yield a bit.
RM

thanks for ur input..it has no switch on outside..not a swtichable hps or mh or a power switch..but on the box it says switchable remote ballast for hps and mh..also says power switch has been removed at the factory..like i say i got a cheap hps bulb coming..im gunna take it outside and plug it in..worst thing it will do is BOOM...IF THAT HAPPENS THEN WE'LL HAVE A 400 WATT HHPS ON THE WAY..thanks everyone and Merry Christmas

 

[SteadySmokin]

All you need to do is check if your ballast has a ignitor. If it does then its convertabile.

 

[tokerofdakill]

All you need to do is check if your ballast has a ignitor. If it does then its convertabile.

good point..lol was thinking of maybe really doing that b4 i put the bulb in..when i get some spare time maybe later today..thanks for pic

 

[tokerofdakill]

here is a pic of inside.. is this an ignitor?

 

[Scrogerman]

Thats the Flux capacitor lol(capacitor)

If this is what you see inside its a MH
(originally posted by Rolling Stoned)


This ones HPS

Peace........Scrog

 

[krazycure]

Wow this got pretty techy. My 2 cents: I grew the same strain with a 150W HPS and a 175W MH. There was no discernible difference. Just my experience.

 

[tokerofdakill]

ok man thanks..dont know jack about lights.will have to just get 400 watt hps i guess.. oh well.lol.. and with all this alaskan ice around it makes things kinda hazeyyyyy when reading, but guess ill have to switch to another jar when wanting to read..thanks again

 

[Scrogerman]

Does look like its been rigged for it to be swithable, may be just a case of following a simple wiring diagram and adding an ignitor into the mix, looks like all the wires have been left there. Do you know any sparkys (electricians)?
Looking at that pic again, can you see behind that plate there, there could still be one behind there dude, its worth looking into!!

 

[Mr.Meds]

FLUX CAPACITOR....HAHAHAHA... Must of came out of a DeLorean.

 

[Scrogerman]

FLUX CAPACITOR....HAHAHAHA... Must of came out of a DeLorean.

Do ya Like er' Cycler' LOL

 

[oregon024]

I have a switchable 400 watt.Last night I accidently hit it with my foot.Was sitting in there smoking noticed I had hit it to hps has a mh bulb.Checked lights shining bright.Didn't unplug just switched back to mh no problems.Eithor or now!