Can you run a 400w hid in a 250w lumatek ballast? Anyone tried it?

matt7835706

Well-Known Member
Dumb question.... maybe, but if someone has tried it i would like to know. I know digitals put out!!
lets here your thoughts.:roll:
 

Filthy Phil

Well-Known Member
Well, this isnt coming from specific eperience from having tried exactly that, but more so as previous employment as an electrician, and...no, no you cant.
 

Samwell Seed Well

Well-Known Member
400w to run

the Canadian thinks 250 and digital magic is gonna make the difference

^^^^stupid canadian

Iam an american who has to live near canada it gets old
 

electronug

Active Member
Yeah, you'd never hear an American ask such a silly question, would you?

:shock:

Either way, it's better that he simply ask than fry himself trying.

No need to throw stones.
 

resinousflowers

Well-Known Member
you can actually run a 400 watt mh/hps bulb in a 250watt maxibright magnetic ballast with no problems.it obviously doesnt make full use of the bulb tho.
 

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
Yes you can run a 400w lamp on a 250w ballast. The spectrum will be effected but it will work. Let me know and I'll show you a video of me running a 1kW lamp @ 600w,400w,and 340w.
 

unohu69

Well-Known Member
I have 2 100w HPS ballast, one of them came with a 150w bulb. the plants actually seem to favor the 150 bulb. I plan on buying new bulbs after this grow.

would running a 150w bulb at the lower 100w wattage increase bulb life? I also have a 175MH, Can I run a 250w bulb in it?
 

Samwell Seed Well

Well-Known Member
to anyone trying to run the wrong wattage on any bulb, you are playing with your life

if thats not stupid i dont know what is, oh and im canadian to all you winney little sensitive sallys, you can lick my Canadian bacon and swallow my American cheese haha

go ahead provide less current for you bulb, number 1 the spectrum and foot print will be completely different the if temperature and the current(look it up it means amps) are not exact or within reasonable variance you will not know what spectrum or foot print you wil be producing or you run the risk of blowing up your bulb which can have a number of effects on your room, one of em if your ballast doesnt have a auto off wil be to spit fire out the bulb until the filament completely burns up another thing that can happen if you under ru your ballast is it will slowly become less efficient, they are designed to run at specific amps and voltages and when you mess with that they will be faulty, and can explode in the same fashion as above or just smoke up your whole room and ruin your plants

so maybe you tards should concentrate on the fact that this guy wants to risk his life and grow for the inconvenience and extra cost of a 40 dollar bulb, vs the fact that i made fun of his ignorance and country of origin
 

Nynexx

Well-Known Member
you can do this with certain bulbs! ... umm it will only put out the max of your ballast though.. but DO NOT put a 400w in a 250w<--ballast= explosion!
 

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
You're not going to blow your bulb running it at fewer lumen... It will effect spectrum but it's not going to blow. Running at higher wattage definitely isn't safe and might blow your bulb - personally I never use my super lumen setting. It really isn't all that different from dimming your old incandescents...
 

Samwell Seed Well

Well-Known Member
gastanker do you have any technical expertise with electrical circuits at all . . . . .. . you use words like lumens when what matter is watts ,voltage and amps . . . . . .. .your advise to throw caution into the wind is neglectful

and could very well get someone in a lot of trouble

the lumens you talk of are created due to heat and electrical current that ignites a gas or a mixture of gas's and rare metals burning that must have a specific temperature to operate at all well, thats the bulb issues

the ballast issues are completely a hazzard, google MMJ and electrical fire, go ahead and look what you could be meddling with and its peoples lives and homes

"could be" is good enough for my life and my family to stay safe
 

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
I said "super lumen setting" That is 10% increase in wattage above average. That is a setting found on many ballasts - I am not comparing lumen to wattage. If you have a 600w ballast with "super lumen" then you are running the ballast and bulb at 600w + 10% which is 660w - above what the bulb is rated. This is bad in my opinion. Bulbs are manufactured to run slightly above their rating to ensure they are safe but pushing a bulb is not good. Running a bulb at a lower wattage is very different.

Yes I have education in basic electrical and understand how bulbs operate - it is safer to run a 600w bulb at 550w than at 600w, you are actually less likely to have it burst. Running it at 150w wouldn't be good but slightly dimming a bulb is not unsafe. If you under excite a gas it doesn't blow...
 

Samwell Seed Well

Well-Known Member
the ballast is designed to run super

they are not designed to not have enough current to reach proper reisistance levels with a bulb not designed to run at that amperage

your ballast to run that bulb at 400 , the ballast runing the circuit with the wrong bulb at the end of it will have be working to try and meet the resistance it is set up for, thats why digital ballst have dimmable seetting with wattage numbers on em, they are designed to do it, not run to little voltage to a bulb trying to pull 400 w instead of 250 and will over load your ballast,

YOU HAVE ZERO EXPERTISE WITH ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS, STOP GIVING ADVISE, and the avg person will know even less then you ,sound advise is correct advise, at least with electrical circuits

do yourself a favor and google MMJ electrical fires and i bet those people thought what they were doing was good advise too
 

Gastanker

Well-Known Member
Wait, so my 600w bulb is designed to run 660w? Is it designed to run 400w? and 340w? The bulb manufacture made it to run on a dimmable ballast? Really?

I don't know you but I kind of wan't to quote this: "YOU HAVE ZERO EXPERTISE WITH ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS, STOP GIVING ADVISE"

Not trying to argue. By all means digital ballasts turn bulbs into magic. UL/CE listing instructions be damned you must be right.

I hear the OP is going to go buy the correct wattage bulb as recommended so it should be a non issue.
 
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