DE CMH Blubs with DE HPS/MH Digital ballast

[Renfro]

So I have been told a few things by a guy at the local hydro store that I am not sure about. For starters I do know that it's always best to run a bulb and ballast that belong together so lets get that debate out of the way lol. This however intrigued me.

I was told that a 1000 Watt DE CMH bulb would work just fine with a 1000 Watt DE HPS/MH ballast so long as the ballast is set to 100% (1000 Watts). I was told that this works with ballasts like my 1000W DE Phantom and 1000W DE SunSystem ballasts, possibly with my 1000W Nanolux but that isn't tested yet. He said that CMH bulbs will even run on old school magnetic MH ballasts if the wattage is right, that basically CMH ballasts are the same as old school MH ballasts. (the difference in the old school ballasts is MH doesn't require an ignitor where the HPS does).

For kickers I was also told that you could use a splitter and run two 630 watt CMH bulbs using a HPS ballast cranked to 1150 - 1200 watts. (That one I am really not sure about).

Does anyone have any experience with just sticking a CMH bulb in a HPS ballast set to the proper wattage? Will it work? Does it just fry bulbs?

Thanks for the replys!

 

[Aeroknow]

So I have been told a few things by a guy at the local hydro store that I am not sure about. For starters I do know that it's always best to run a bulb and ballast that belong together so lets get that debate out of the way lol. This however intrigued me.

I was told that a 1000 Watt DE CMH bulb would work just fine with a 1000 Watt DE HPS/MH ballast so long as the ballast is set to 100% (1000 Watts). I was told that this works with ballasts like my 1000W DE Phantom and 1000W DE SunSystem ballasts, possibly with my 1000W Nanolux but that isn't tested yet. He said that CMH bulbs will even run on old school magnetic MH ballasts if the wattage is right, that basically CMH ballasts are the same as old school MH ballasts. (the difference in the old school ballasts is MH doesn't require an ignitor where the HPS does).

For kickers I was also told that you could use a splitter and run two 630 watt CMH bulbs using a HPS ballast cranked to 1150 - 1200 watts. (That one I am really not sure about).

Does anyone have any experience with just sticking a CMH bulb in a HPS ballast set to the proper wattage? Will it work? Does it just fry bulbs?

Thanks for the replys!

Yo Snaps,
Like i had said before i rocked those growers house 630w DE cmh bulbs from my phantom DE ballasts. They worked great. Set the ballasts to 600w.

I dunno about splitting, and i seriously doubt running them off a regular old school ballasts. I read/heard they work with the DE ballasts because the square wave tech?

I had the 630w bulbs in veg room. Had almost a year on 4 of them

 

[Renfro]

Yo Snaps,
Like i had said before i rocked those growers house 630w DE cmh bulbs from my phantom DE ballasts. They worked great. Set the ballasts to 600w.

I dunno about splitting, and i seriously doubt running them off a regular old school ballasts. I read/heard they work with the DE ballasts because the square wave tech?

I had the 630w bulbs in veg room. Had almost a year on 4 of them

If I may ask, how much area did you cover with the 600 watt CMH in flower? Would the 1000 watt CMH be overkill for my 4x4 footprint? Maybe have to use the 600 watt setting and 630 watt CMH bulbs?

 

[Aeroknow]

I got four of them right when they came out and put them in 4 of these:
https://growershouse.com/sunsystem-blazer-de-double-ended-reflector

Powered them with phantom DE ballasts at 60%. Each light was over a 4x4 tray.

Back when i first set them up, I didn’t have a par meter, but still had my old hydrofarm footcandles one. First thing I did once warmed up was check what it read at 2’ away. I was surprised it read about the same as what a fresh 1000w old school with new eye horti bulb did.
I did one run in flower with them before using them in my veg room.
I yielded about 1.5lb per light from a medium yielding cookies strain at the time.
If I was gonna rock their 1000w version I would light up an area similar to what a 1000w DE usually gives you. For the open ended phantom DE setups, that’s usually 4x6, or 4.5x6 in a grid for me, or roughly 5x5 for a gavita type reflector

 

[Renfro]

Hmmm, I wonder if I can get the same yields using 600 watts instead of 1000 watts, plus a shit ton less heat. That would be a game changer.

I think a 1000w CMH would be too strong for my ceiling height restrictions unless I could make my plants stay way shorter but I like to grow em big and get that side yield.

 

[Renfro]

So I ordered a 630 watt growers choice CMH 3KR bulb to test this run and see what it does. Hell yeah, I am stoked. lol

 

[Rob Roy]

So I ordered a 630 watt growers choice CMH 3KR bulb to test this run and see what it does. Hell yeah, I am stoked. lol

Good luck with your experiment.

Not sure if this will be an issue for you using 630 watt cmh bulbs, but the 315 cmh bulbs need a mogul adapter if you retrofit them to an old hps light fixture. They look like the picture below.

 

[Renfro]

Good luck with your experiment.

Not sure if this will be an issue for you using 630 watt cmh bulbs, but the 315 cmh bulbs need a mogul adapter if you retrofit them to an old hps light fixture. They look like the picture below.

Thanks man! but I am running DE bulbs.

 

[Apalchen]

I have a growers choice ballast designed specifically for 630de cmh. It’s the only one that’s lasted(had some Chinese ones go out on me mid run) tried to fire a bulb off of cheap 600 no name hps ballast would flicker but not run right at all. I have heard the galaxy ballast will run them. But if it’s not too late amazon has ge growers choice bulbs and ballast I’m talking about as a kit for like 230 without a reflector.

 

[Apalchen]

Also the bulbs from growers choice are pricey and due to some mishaps I don’t have any more growers choice and just been running the cheap bulbs from China I think wo boom was name they came with my ballasts. That bulb is workin just as good imo and I’m not one to usually cheap out on bulbs. Just that when this run is over I’m not using that light any more so wasn’t gonna drop 100+ for a new GC bulb

 

[710Earthbound]

I voted before I had time to comprehend and process the question fully **dabbing** I over looked ballast and thought fuck ya cause I use the same reflector for all my lights but use different ballasts…….

Not sure about the ballasts working both CMH and HPS...… User manual?

My new addition to my tent army lol
10X10 tent dedicated to flower......
3 - 315w DE CMH
4 - 1000w DE HPS (the 1000w ballasts are dimmable 400w, 600w, 1KW and DE settings)
All air cooled reflectors , using -> growlite - reflectors/hde-full-body-air-cooled-double-ended-315-1000w/

1140CFM - 12" fan with carbon filter both for the fresh air intake and same fan setup for reflectors cooling and exhausting out of the tent, they reduce down to 8" ducting for a couple duct vents. Exhaust is opposite 8" to all lights then out to 12" fan and filter.

10,000 btu AC chilling the room it's never over 24*C plus one hurricane and a couple clip fans...…..​

 

[BigFloppyDonkeyDick]

Old thread But I am curious as to if this actually worked. I have a bunch of the discontinued Gavita Pro DE's and also a bunch of the nano chill DE's that are new as well. I've never ran HPS before but I did run a handful of the grower's choice DE CMH until they all eventually crapped out. I still have one, but it keeps meltinh the power cord where it plugs into the ballast so I've stopped using it. I absolutely loved the results from the CMH 3K and 3KR so I just bought up a shit ton of these fixtures that are being discontinued to make way for LED. I never thought the day would come where Gavita stopped making HPS fixtures, but since they have been acquired by Hawthorne , It makes too much sense. Anyhoo. I know the nanolux fixtures only have 300v output and the CMH lamps are 400 to fire, if I remember correctly. I'd really like to do whatever I can to utilize them. I literally have nearly a a pallet each of cases of the Grower's Choice 3K and 3KR lamps and also a few cases of the Illuminar 3 and 4k lamps as well.The first time I ran a CMH, it was a 315 watt Grower's Choice but I pulled over a pound of Ghost Train haze from one ScroG'd plant in a 3x3 tent and almost two pounds of Super Lemon Haze from 4 plants in the same set-up. After that, I was sold although it was right after ditching blurple do to the hot spots and wonky nute needs. It's cooler where I live so heat isn't something I worry too much about but I do love that they run cooler, have the excellent CRI and the extended spectrum as well as far as delivering more UV and IR than HPS has too offer. They are the perfect HID light which is a lot cheaper than LED's are these days, even after replacing lampsover a few years time. I know there are cheap LED's that do decent out there but they just dont offer the spectrum and power of the CMH's. All this rack lighting has to be right on top of the canopy whereas my CMH was usually nearly 3 ft above it until the stretch was over and even then, The plants were never dameged by getting within a foot thanks to the cooler temps when using quartz lamp shields. Anyhoo. I don't know if I'll get a reply. Another thing im certain of is that CMH lamps run the risk of exploding in high frequency ballasts so I'm not sure where that leaves me with all of these fixtures except maybe having to go with the Phillips lamps, which seem to be the best HPS out there. If any answers do show up, I greatly appreciate them.