How to setup a vertical HPS?

Tillinah

Tillinah

Member
So I feel stupid for asking about this as I've been searching around for a while. The space I have is kind of small, and I want to hang a 150 watt HPS in the center.

I have found some guides on how to make one from a flood lamp and how to hang them, but the guide seems a little out of date.

Can someone tell me the easiest way to get a 150 watt HPS with a ballast? I want the ballast to be remote and outside of the box.
Can I just buy a light like this and reassemble it so I can have the ballast outside?

If anyone knows the best way I can do this and can be specific please let me know. Thanks!
 
Chronic Masterbator

Chronic Masterbator

Well-Known Member
Kinda hard to set up a vert grow with that lamp. Try cfls for very if your space is too small. As soon as I get my new spot vert is the route I'm going . good luck
 
1itsme

1itsme

Well-Known Member
Tillinah said:
What is so different from a 150 compared to other sizes?
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the ballast is attatched to the hood. there was a thread about how to convert wh hid lights to remote ballasts a couple years ago i'll see if i can find it. pc's way is alot easier tho.
 
Ilovebush

Ilovebush

Well-Known Member
You can do it many ways...I like the vertical cool tube setup if its a tight space. Cool the hood with extractor fans venting out the top and in through the bottom and then you can add an in line centrifugal fan with a scrubber for the aroma.
 
Tillinah

Tillinah

Member
Ya I'm basically just trying to figure out how to setup the bulb in the first place. I like Prawn Connery's idea I just feel like that is a little overpriced? Maybe not though, I don't know enough about them. I'm trying to find the easiest, and somewhat cheapest way to setup a vertical HPS in a compact area.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
You need at least four plants to really take advantage of growing around a vertical bulb - one on each side - and 150w just doesn't have the light penetration. It can be done, but the results are likely to disappoint. A 250w HPS with a remote ballast doesn't emit that much more heat and can be used on a footprint as small as 2' x 2'. I've grown decent buds with a 250 (many years ago). You will need to ventilate it, though.

As for the expense, it will pay for itself first harvest.
 
Tillinah

Tillinah

Member
Prawn Connery said:
You need at least four plants to really take advantage of growing around a vertical bulb - one on each side - and 150w just doesn't have the light penetration. It can be done, but the results are likely to disappoint. A 250w HPS with a remote ballast doesn't emit that much more heat and can be used on a footprint as small as 2' x 2'. I've grown decent buds with a 250 (many years ago). You will need to ventilate it, though.

As for the expense, it will pay for itself first harvest.
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Ya I figured 250 would be better, I was kind of just using that one as an example. What is the best way I can start setting it up? Can I technically get all the parts from homedepot or lowes and build it or would just be easier to take apart a grow light?
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
I'm not in America, so I'm not sure what's available to you. But I just went to my local hydro store and bought a ballast, chord/plug and lamp - and that was it. It might be cheaper to buy a kit like the one above and remove the reflector, or you might find the ballast, chord/plug and bulb cheaper.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Yeah, 250s are pretty cheap anyway. Get yourself a HPS ballast or a HPS/MH combined ballast and you can run a metal halide bulb (or retro MH bulb with the HPS-only ballast) during veg and a HPS bulb during flowering. 250 watts is the minimum I'd run with a vertical grow. 400w gives pretty good results in a small set-up, while 600w is ideal. Once you start going any bigger, you're better off running two bulbs hanging in line; either 2 x 400w or 2 x 600w (which I do). 1000 watters create a lot of heat from a single source, so it's better to split the heat/light up into two 600s, one 600w and one 400w, or two 400s.
 
Tillinah

Tillinah

Member
Prawn Connery said:
Yeah, 250s are pretty cheap anyway. Get yourself a HPS ballast or a HPS/MH combined ballast and you can run a metal halide bulb (or retro MH bulb with the HPS-only ballast) during veg and a HPS bulb during flowering. 250 watts is the minimum I'd run with a vertical grow. 400w gives pretty good results in a small set-up, while 600w is ideal. Once you start going any bigger, you're better off running two bulbs hanging in line; either 2 x 400w or 2 x 600w (which I do). 1000 watters create a lot of heat from a single source, so it's better to split the heat/light up into two 600s, one 600w and one 400w, or two 400s.
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My space is pretty small, I'm basically just upgrading from a PC thats vegging the plants to a cabinet that will take over when it's finished.

How much hotter do the 400 run from 250? I only plan on having 2 plants since this cabinet is not very big.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
A 400 is a fair bit hotter than a 250 when comparing the two, but it mostly comes down to ventilation and how warm your environment is. How big is your cabinet? I have a friend who grows in a 2' x 2' x 2.5' cabinet using a 400 hps, but he has a good fan and lots of ventilation. Even then, he has trouble growing in summer due to the heat. But it can be done. My own opinion is a 250 is more suited to that sized chamber for year-round growing, but a 400 will produce almost twice as much as a 250 and is better suited to vertical growing.

With two plants, you may be better off running a horizontal light first and then switching to a vertical setup when you have a few more plants to put around the bulb. Like I said, small vertical grows do better with about four plants - one in each corner around the bulb.

What are the dimensions of your cabinet? That's probably the best place to start.
 
Tillinah

Tillinah

Member
Prawn Connery said:
A 400 is a fair bit hotter than a 250 when comparing the two, but it mostly comes down to ventilation and how warm your environment is. How big is your cabinet? I have a friend who grows in a 2' x 2' x 2.5' cabinet using a 400 hps, but he has a good fan and lots of ventilation. Even then, he has trouble growing in summer due to the heat. But it can be done. My own opinion is a 250 is more suited to that sized chamber for year-round growing, but a 400 will produce almost twice as much as a 250 and is better suited to vertical growing.

With two plants, you may be better off running a horizontal light first and then switching to a vertical setup when you have a few more plants to put around the bulb. Like I said, small vertical grows do better with about four plants - one in each corner around the bulb.

What are the dimensions of your cabinet? That's probably the best place to start.
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Right now it's 2ft wide, 28in high (can be 4ft if I add the second cab under it), and 1ft depth. Look in my sig thread if you want to see some pictures of it.
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's pretty small. Just had a look at your thread and I'm still thinking you might be better off with a horizontal lamp, as there's very little footprint to drop a vertical light down the middle and still leave enough room either side to grow.

I see you're also growing in soil, so will need room for pots. With that cabinet you could get a nice rectangular shaped soil pot to fit the bottom, put both plants in side-by-side to maximise your rootzone, and then use your cool tube reflector idea to keep the whole cabinet . . . er, cool. Or put the two cabinets together, remove the floor/roof so it becomes one cabinet with 4" of head height, and then you could get away without a cool tube as long as you have good ventilation.

Either way, I'd say a 250hps is the biggest lamp you should contemplate - but I would certainly choose that over the 150. One of my very first indoor grows was in a cabinet of similar dimensions with a 250w hps and soil. Prior to this I had tried about 200w of CFLs in the same space and the 250hps blew those grows away. I didn't have a cool tube, but I had a bit more head height (about 32"). The whole cabinet measured 2.7' x 1.5' x 2.7' with passive induction and an exhaust fan. That was many, many years ago but it was a great introduction to indoor growing!
 
Tillinah

Tillinah

Member
Prawn Connery said:
Yeah, that's pretty small. Just had a look at your thread and I'm still thinking you might be better off with a horizontal lamp, as there's very little footprint to drop a vertical light down the middle and still leave enough room either side to grow.

I see you're also growing in soil, so will need room for pots. With that cabinet you could get a nice rectangular shaped soil pot to fit the bottom, put both plants in side-by-side to maximise your rootzone, and then use your cool tube reflector idea to keep the whole cabinet . . . er, cool. Or put the two cabinets together, remove the floor/roof so it becomes one cabinet with 4" of head height, and then you could get away without a cool tube as long as you have good ventilation.

Either way, I'd say a 250hps is the biggest lamp you should contemplate - but I would certainly choose that over the 150. One of my very first indoor grows was in a cabinet of similar dimensions with a 250w hps and soil. Prior to this I had tried about 200w of CFLs in the same space and the 250hps blew those grows away. I didn't have a cool tube, but I had a bit more head height (about 32"). The whole cabinet measured 2.7' x 1.5' x 2.7' with passive induction and an exhaust fan. That was many, many years ago but it was a great introduction to indoor growing!
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Thanks a lot for the help, I'll probably try and set it up a few different ways and see what ends up working best.

How much did you yield with the hps in your space with how many plants?
 
Prawn Connery

Prawn Connery

Well-Known Member
BIZARRE said:
go bare bulb
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Have you seen his footprint? It's 2' x 1'. If you can drop a bare bulb in-between two plants - with a floor fan in the middle - and still leave enough room to grow either side, then good luck!

Tillinah, don't let me put you off - try a vertical bulb if you wish - but you will likely find that the bulb will need to be hung high to give yourself enough room to grow, which will defeat the purpose of growing vertically. With vertical growing, you really need the bulb to be hung about two-thirds the way up the plant to take advantage of the 360-degrees of light. Hanging a bare bulb above the plant is actually less efficient than a horizontal bulb with a reflector.

Heat will also be an issue, so a horizontal cool tube reflector (you know the type - they're a cool tube with reflective material on one side) will help with heat while also giving you lots of light.

As for my yields growing with a horizontal 250, it's so long ago (15 years) that I can't recall. I usually had six small plants growing 3x2 and my yields probably would have been around five-six ounces. These days I grow with 1200w of vertical light and consistently yield 3-3.5lb. Check my signature and you'll see my set-up.
 
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