400w MH bulb for 600w ballast?

Can i use a 400w Mh bulb with a 600w HPS/MH Maxibrite ballast?Reason for asking,i want to use a MH bulb but i dont want to buy another ballast?

lol wot do you think ?

Bifta said:

lol wot do you think ?

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I dont know how you found that question funny.Have you tried it?
If I knew the answer,I wouldnt have asked the question.


I cant imagin using a 1000w bulb with a 600w ballast,but can a person use a 400w bulb with a 600w ballast?
Has anyone tried it?
Will it blow?

Smaller bulb with larger ballast is your question, yes?

Seamaiden said:

Smaller bulb with larger ballast is your question, yes?

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Yes.Would a 400w be compatible with a 600w ballast? Simple question, has anyone tried it?will it blow the bulb?I dont know how to put it any clearer.

If the ballast is a 600 hps put a 600 mh bulb in.

I am asking a simple question, has any person connected a 400w bulb to a 600w ballast?
Will it blow?

I want to learn by someone elses mistake and not my own lol.

I haven't done this, but common sense would lead me to believe that pumping too much power through a 400 would blow or at very least drastically shorten the life of a bulb. I wouldnt do it if i were you!

Dirtyboy said:

If the ballast is a 600 hps put a 600 mh bulb in.

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I know this will work.

The other i would not try.

One of my mates can use a 250w MH bulb in his 600w Aurora ballast,but his says on the reflector that he can use bulbs from 250w to 600w.Now, has anyone tried a 400w bulb in a 600w ballast?

Why will i die?You've answered my question,so YOU must be dead.
And again,has anyone tried a 400w bulb in a 600w ballast?

No no one has. Are you going to beat this thread to death. Read some of the answers. We will stop helping you.

no, i just witnessed my friend fry alive, im good.

Im pretty sure that would be bad though, i know a higher watt bulb in a lower watt ballast sucks up more energy than the ballast can put ouf reducing its life drastically. I couldnt imagin it would be better switching it up...

nobody has tried it i think everybody would be smart enough just to buy a new 600watt bulb..either you can try it and risk waisten a couple 100 bucks on fucken up the ballast and the bulb or just spend the 50 bucks for a new bulb..

How do you all know that nobody hasnt tried it?
I asked a question and people come on and say what they think might happen.Thats whats wrong with this site.When a person asks a question they get an answer from some people who think they know the answer.I want an answer from a person who has done what i'm asking.I'm not saying most people have tried it,but i'm thinking of it,and i'm damn well sure other people have thought what would happen if they did it.
Now,if you cant answer the question,or link me to a discussion about it,DO NOT POST A REPLY TO THIS QUESTION!

andy7000 said:

How do you all know that nobody hasnt tried it?
I asked a question and people come on and say what they think might happen.Thats whats wrong with this site.When a person asks a question they get an answer from some people who think they know the answer.I want an answer from a person who has done what i'm asking.I'm not saying most people have tried it,but i'm thinking of it,and i'm damn well sure other people have thought what would happen if they did it.
Now,if you cant answer the question,or link me to a discussion about it,DO NOT POST A REPLY TO THIS QUESTION!

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I'm breaking your rule here, so sorry for that, but jesus h man, whats wrong with this site is not people giving their opinions, its when they state them as fact that it becomes a problem, if i were you i'd just be nice, and be patient, someone might have tried this and found okay results, but i wouldnt get my hopes up, overpowering a thin piece of untempered glass doesnt sound like a good idea to me, but we would still be in the stone ages if people were afraid to take risks.

sorry im pretty blitzed and got off track a bit there, long story short, be nice! itll get you alot further than demanding things.
good luck and happy growing!

Ok i'm not breaking your rules, heres a link to a discussion about what you're asking.
UK420 > 400w Ballast & 600w Lamp.

I've thought about what you're asking, i see your point of view, it would be nice to use the same ballast through-out a grow. Saves chopping and changing things. Maybe in the future it could be possible.

What do you mean your mate uses a 250w with a 600w ballast? Is it working for him?

SpruceZeus said:

I'm breaking your rule here, so sorry for that, but jesus h man, whats wrong with this site is not people giving their opinions, its when they state them as fact that it becomes a problem, if i were you i'd just be nice, and be patient, someone might have tried this and found okay results, but i wouldnt get my hopes up, overpowering a thin piece of untempered glass doesnt sound like a good idea to me, but we would still be in the stone ages if people were afraid to take risks.

sorry im pretty blitzed and got off track a bit there, long story short, be nice! itll get you alot further than demanding things.
good luck and happy growing!

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Sorry for being rude.I've being reading RIU for quite a while,and I see more and more that people answer questions on what they think,instead of answering a question about facts.
This thread is a plain example,first someone laughs at a question i ask (which fuckin annoying),then someone says i'll die,then someone has the check to tell me to read some of the answers or they'll will stop helping me. Read some of the answers?Nobody answered my question!So again,I'm sorry for being rude.

Thank you for the link fitzyno1.
Yes my mate has a 600w Aurora ballast and every grow he uses a 250MH bulb for his seedlings,and then changes to his 600HPS.BUT,his light kit is one unit,with timer built in.Thats why i ask can any other ballast do the same as his,only with a 400wMH bulb.

SpruceZeus said:

I haven't done this, but common sense would lead me to believe that pumping too much power through a 400 would blow or at very least drastically shorten the life of a bulb. I wouldnt do it if i were you!

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I would worry about that as well, OR the bulb not burning properly (emitting the spectra you're after). However, do I know it for a fact? No, I do not. I don't know if you can do as you can with, say, incandescents, for instance when you've got a lamp rated for up to 100W but you put in a 40W. In part, in large part actually, because those fixtures do not require a ballast to start the lamps in the first place.

Have you started at the simplest place and done some Googling? I know for a fact there's a pretty good Wiki on MH bulbs in general, and I believe it goes into the differences between the ballast types (digital, pulse start, something else I don't recall) and so on. Looked pretty good to me, though it seemed to be geared primarily for reef aquarists.