Ballast ??

Alright i have been using a 600 wat mh for my veg room and the temp is always killing me i am about to start a new grow and was looking into buying a 250 mh ballest to ad to my flower room,

I would rather buy some T5 or 8 florecents for my veg room and just take my ballast i am using for my 600 wat mh and throw it in my flower room for my 250mh

So can this be done ?????? on my ballast it says it can be used for a 400 wat mh or a 1000 wat mh...... and my boy said it would be fine for a 600mh ......so will it be fine for a 250 mh ??


Thanks for all the help!!

If you need any more info or have a question let me know.

Maybe I'm reading that last pic wrong but it appears that you have a 400W ballast. Don't think a more powerful bulb would work.

Cr8z13 said:

Maybe I'm reading that last pic wrong but it appears that you have a 400W ballast. Don't think a more powerful bulb would work.

Click to expand...

No you read it wrong or i typed it wrong ..... i have been using a 600 wat mh bulb for the last year no problems just gets a little to hot in the summer where i live, 90 in the house with out even the lights on

Now i want to take Out the 600 wat mh and put a 250 wat mh bulb In

I thought i read on the FAQ that you should not use ballast that dont match up to the bulb but my hydro store sold me this setup the 600watmh with the ballast said i should not have aproblem

But then i thought i read that a 175 wat mh to 400 wat mh are almost the same power ballast or somthing like that

Hope that clears things up

Hulk Nugs said:

Alright i have been using a 600 wat mh for my veg room and the temp is always killing me i am about to start a new grow and was looking into buying a 250 mh ballest to ad to my flower room,

I would rather buy some T5 or 8 florecents for my veg room and just take my ballast i am using for my 600 wat mh and throw it in my flower room for my 250mh

So can this be done ?????? on my ballast it says it can be used for a 400 wat mh or a 1000 wat mh...... and my boy said it would be fine for a 600mh ......so will it be fine for a 250 mh ??


Thanks for all the help!!

If you need any more info or have a question let me know.

Click to expand...

I don't think it's a good idea to use a ballast not intended for that bulb. Electricity is some dicey shit.

really would be a fire risk. fact being you will be putting more wattage through the bulb than it can handle.. running a bigger bulb i would think would just run in-efficiently because it isn't getting the wattage it needs.. i wouldn't risk the fire personally though. buy a dif ballast, it will be much cheaper in the long run than burning down your place.

thanks man, really makes since with what i have been reading to much power can blow the blub and a smaller ballast then the blub would just not let the blub shine as bright as it could

So now i am thinking 400 wat HPS and 600 wat MH in the flowering room so 1000 wats total in a 2x2 would that be to much you think ??

I was just going to go for the 650 wats in the flower room 400HPS 250MH but i would have to buy a 250ballast and figure out how to cool down the veg room for the 600watmh even more.

I would use the 600 for flowering and the 400 for veg.

if your worried about heat and want a ballast that will preform as well as an HID, but puts off little heat check these out...

http://www.wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SSG104&AC=1

they are 420w ballasts.. put off 44,000 lumens.. you can get both bloom and gro bulbs.. and the hottest they get is about 90F.. maybe 95F...

they are a bit pricey.. but pay for themselves with efficiency and preformance... i keep mine just a few inches, or less, off the top of my canopy with no problems from heat or bleaching..

you can check my youtube video (links in sig) and see what they did with my last grow... and if you want you can follow my new grow journal to see how they work.. but i promise that they can preform as well as or better than a 400w HID, and probably close to as well as a 600w....

500 bucks!!! i would get a 600 watt air or water cooled hps setup before i dropped that much on floros.. just me though.. a 600 watt would be more than enough for a 2x2 area.. dont think that flouro fixture would even fit in there considering it is 4' long. you saying they get 90-95F isn't a good thing.. you want your plants to be in the mid 70's when the lights are on during flowering... about 10-15 degrees cooler in lights off

its not like a normal floro.. believe me.. these things are sick... i promise i could easily out preform a 400w ballast (mh or hps).. and am fairly confident they would maintain about an equal level as a 600w...

i have 2 x 400w lights in my veg room along with the 4 floros like them i have.. and can tell you side by side the floros blow the 400s out of the water... although its hard to show a solid comparison because i move my plants around and dont have them under their original lights.. but trust me.. like i said check the youtube video to see what they can do...

as far as it being a 2x2 room.. umm.. maybe i missed it.. but i didnt see it posted.. in which case nevermind because they wouldnt fit.. LOL

the label on that xtrasun ballast shows 400 watt mh.