Would these lights from work in house?

[Smitty42088]

Hey guys I picked up some 400 watt hid lights from work we wasn't using anymore but I'm not sure they would make good grow lights since the hookup seems to be a 220 or 400 so I'm not even sure these would work...Any advice is appreciated..They seem like they would be beast!

 

[macsnax]

It sure will. The only problem is the footprint that hood/shade is going to throw. Maybe lose it and consider a vertical grow. And ya you will need to run a 220 line to run it too.

 

[Smitty42088]

It sure will. The only problem is the footprint that hood/shade is going to throw. Maybe lose it and consider a vertical grow. And ya you will need to run a 220 line to run it too.

Thanks for the advice man. One more question...Do you think my electric company would get suspicious if I hooked one of these up I'm already running a 600 hps and two 300 watt LEDs??

 

[macsnax]

There are a lot of appliances and household electronics that draw that much power, if you're not attracting attention to yourself you should be fine .

 

[Renfro]

Looks like they are setup for 480 volt.

 

[Renfro]

Look at the ballast transformer, see if it has unused wires with little tags on them. It may have a transformer that can be hooked up for multiple voltages, the wires would say, 120, 208, 240, 277 and 480 (used currently). If thats the case then one can unhook the 480v wire and connect the wire for the voltage they wish to use.

That said these look like they have a lot of miles on them and may not last long.

 

[Renfro]

Also, if you use that reflector, you want a bulb that is universal or base up.

 

[OldMedUser]

I use 30+ year old magnetics and they still work fine. Had to replace a ballast in one of the HPS ones and will be getting a multimeter that can test for capacitance to make sure they are working properly. They can still fire a light when they get low but light output suffers. Need one for each of my 2 - 1000W ballasts. One is MH only and the other switchable MH/HPS. To test if the capacitor is dead pull the wires off the top and with a multimeter set at it's highest resistance level hold the tips on the tabs on top of the capacitor and the resistance should slowly rise. If it's dead it won't show anything. Bulging tops or leaks are physical indicators that the capacitor is shot.

That reflector on yours is crap for a grow room but you can remove it and mount the socket in another hood but most hoods come with a socket installed. Just run wires from the ballast to the light and you won't have to hang that heavy ballast.

One of my oldest 400W HPS. Using it right now to veg plants with a 400W Philips CMH bulb. I have two like that and a 400W MH very similar. MH and HPS are virtually the same with the same coils and capacitors but the HPS also has an ignitor to fire the bulbs. Mine are wired 120V but can be switched to other voltages like 240.

 

[macsnax]

I use 30+ year old magnetics and they still work fine. Had to replace a ballast in one of the HPS ones and will be getting a multimeter that can test for capacitance to make sure they are working properly. They can still fire a light when they get low but light output suffers. Need one for each of my 2 - 1000W ballasts. One is MH only and the other switchable MH/HPS. To test if the capacitor is dead pull the wires off the top and with a multimeter set at it's highest resistance level hold the tips on the tabs on top of the capacitor and the resistance should slowly rise. If it's dead it won't show anything. Bulging tops or leaks are physical indicators that the capacitor is shot.

That reflector on yours is crap for a grow room but you can remove it and mount the socket in another hood but most hoods come with a socket installed. Just run wires from the ballast to the light and you won't have to hang that heavy ballast.

One of my oldest 400W HPS. Using it right now to veg plants with a 400W Philips CMH bulb. I have two like that and a 400W MH very similar. MH and HPS are virtually the same with the same coils and capacitors but the HPS also has an ignitor to fire the bulbs. Mine are wired 120V but can be switched to other voltages like 240.

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Sounds like you got your hid's down, lol. Good to see you around man.

 

[ttystikk]

Thanks for the advice man. One more question...Do you think my electric company would get suspicious if I hooked one of these up I'm already running a 600 hps and two 300 watt LEDs??

Honestly, keep buying high quality LED lights and put that rocket nozzle in the trash where it belongs.

Top quality LED is going to last and over time will save you more in energy costs than the light itself.

HLG
Timber
COBKits if you want to DIY.

Garbage in, garbage out, brother.

 

[Smitty42088]

Honestly, keep buying high quality LED lights and put that rocket nozzle in the trash where it belongs.

Top quality LED is going to last and over time will save you more in energy costs than the light itself.

HLG
Timber
COBKits if you want to DIY.

Garbage in, garbage out, brother.

Appreciate all you guys help..And I actually agree man about going a different route these were free from my work so I figured why not grab them up...They look trashy due to coming out of a dusty ass sawmill..Just seems like to much work to mess with to me..

 

[Jimdamick]

I use 30+ year old magnetics and they still work fine. Had to replace a ballast in one of the HPS ones and will be getting a multimeter that can test for capacitance to make sure they are working properly. They can still fire a light when they get low but light output suffers. Need one for each of my 2 - 1000W ballasts. One is MH only and the other switchable MH/HPS. To test if the capacitor is dead pull the wires off the top and with a multimeter set at it's highest resistance level hold the tips on the tabs on top of the capacitor and the resistance should slowly rise. If it's dead it won't show anything. Bulging tops or leaks are physical indicators that the capacitor is shot.

That reflector on yours is crap for a grow room but you can remove it and mount the socket in another hood but most hoods come with a socket installed. Just run wires from the ballast to the light and you won't have to hang that heavy ballast.

One of my oldest 400W HPS. Using it right now to veg plants with a 400W Philips CMH bulb. I have two like that and a 400W MH very similar. MH and HPS are virtually the same with the same coils and capacitors but the HPS also has an ignitor to fire the bulbs. Mine are wired 120V but can be switched to other voltages like 240.

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I was an electrician for over 35 years, and your explanation was mint.
I'd personally toss it and get a new 400 watt digital system, which in my opinion for veg is way overkill.

This dual HPS/MH is $120 on Amazon, but I'd get this for veg which is simply a 4 bulb 4' T5 fixture for $90.

I grow all my plants for 4 weeks under a similar one (have 20 under one right now,) then switch to HPS for finish and they do great, with low energy consumption.

 

[OldMedUser]

I normally use an 8-4' tube T-12 I built in '01 for vegging small plants but the wife is using it to grow her tomatoes etc this year. Can use 2, 4, 6 or all 8 depending on how much area needs covering. Took shop lights apart and mounted the bulb ends on a sheet of plywood with the ballasts on the back. Got a dead ballast so need to replace it with a shiny new one but haven't got around to it yet. The tomatoes are doing great with 6 tho.

 

[Smitty42088]

I was an electrician for over 35 years, and your explanation was mint.
I'd personally toss it and get a new 400 watt digital system, which in my opinion for veg is way overkill.

This dual HPS/MH is $120 on Amazon, but I'd get this for veg which is simply a 4 bulb 4' T5 fixture for $90.

I grow all my plants for 4 weeks under a similar one (have 20 under one right now,) then switch to HPS for finish and they do great, with low energy consumption.

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That looks perfect for what I need...I got clones sitting in a tent now that's holding two beautiful gorilla glue 4s from being flipped there's only two plants in a five by five but I say after I scrog them they will be ready to flip cause their huge already lol.

 

[Smitty42088]

I normally use an 8-4' tube T-12 I built in '01 for vegging small plants but the wife is using it to grow her tomatoes etc this year. Can use 2, 4, 6 or all 8 depending on how much area needs covering. Took shop lights apart and mounted the bulb ends on a sheet of plywood with the ballasts on the back. Got a dead ballast so need to replace it with a shiny new one but haven't got around to it yet. The tomatoes are doing great with 6 tho.

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Looks great that's exactly what I need another light for...I already have two tents ready to rock all I'm missing is my seedling starter to get me a perpetual garden!!Thanks guys

 

[Smitty42088]

Looks great that's exactly what I need another light for...I already have two tents ready to rock all I'm missing is my seedling starter to get me a perpetual garden!!Sharing the tents with clones gets old fast they need their own space lol...Thanks guys

 

[ttystikk]

I normally use an 8-4' tube T-12 I built in '01 for vegging small plants but the wife is using it to grow her tomatoes etc this year. Can use 2, 4, 6 or all 8 depending on how much area needs covering. Took shop lights apart and mounted the bulb ends on a sheet of plywood with the ballasts on the back. Got a dead ballast so need to replace it with a shiny new one but haven't got around to it yet. The tomatoes are doing great with 6 tho.

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I've made some silly lights in my time. Once, I screwed half a dozen old bathroom fixtures to two strips of wood, so the wood was like railroad tracks and the 4 bulb fixtures were like the ties. Then I screwed in 24 CFL bulbs and made my first homebuilt grow light!

It was hot but it was the bomb for plants between 3" and a foot tall.

 

[Renfro]

One of my first big grows had a bunch of lighting that my buddy got when his job was tossing stuff. He was in maintenance at a high school. They had some stadium lights for a football stadium, they were 1500 watt MH. He gave me 6 of those, just the ballast kit with transformer and capacitor and new sylvania bulbs. I used some of those old school large parabolic reflectors. The garage had 12 foot ceilings. Grew the fuck out of some plants lol.

 

[ttystikk]

One of my first big grows had a bunch of lighting that my buddy got when his job was tossing stuff. He was in maintenance at a high school. They had some stadium lights for a football stadium, they were 1500 watt MH. He gave me 6 of those, just the ballast kit with transformer and capacitor and new sylvania bulbs. I used some of those old school large parabolic reflectors. The garage had 12 foot ceilings. Grew the fuck out of some plants lol.

That's awesome- think about how many high school kids looked at those lights and dreamed of doing what you actually did.

 

[OldMedUser]

I've made some silly lights in my time. Once, I screwed half a dozen old bathroom fixtures to two strips of wood, so the wood was like railroad tracks and the 4 bulb fixtures were like the ties. Then I screwed in 24 CFL bulbs and made my first homebuilt grow light!

It was hot but it was the bomb for plants between 3" and a foot tall.

I found some vanity fixtures at a local thrift store about 6 years ago and bought them up cheap alwaus planning to make a CFL grow light out of the. With the rollout of LED light bulbs I bought a shitload of them for $1/bulb and finally built that light. Don't like the 5000K spectrum tho and wish they made cheap 6400K to mix in.

Mounted them on aluminum angle iron so they have 6" centers from any direction. Not a very big footprint but I have 2 more 4 - bulb fixtures I plan to set up like outriggers so can hang off each side.