DIY 400w CMH setup?

so I want to buy a ballast and bulb separate and build my own grow light. I'm not worried about the electrical aspect of things I know a guy for that. I'm just wondering what specific ballast I need to buy to run a 400w CMH bulb? or a 330w bulb if that turns out to be the best option.

also does anyone have any experience with CMH lighting? any info is appreciated.

If I remember the CMH bulb needed to be run with a non digital ballast ,transformer only type ballast , and also Phillips has scratched the CMH bulbs and will not produce them I think the bulb was not really designed for growing but a more efficient MH bulb was the Idea they had, ,The ceramic MH bulb was said to be a great light for growing giving very good color spectrum better then standard MH bulbs, but Phillips has moved on to better more efficient projects ,So they scraped the CMH bulb production, although you can still find old stock.

Philips stopped making the master color and the retro white. They still make the allstart line. Dna lighting is a fairly new company. All there bulbs are allstarts rebranded. The 330 allstart and 860 allstart run on mh mag ballasts. The allstart is designed for horticulture. It has far more deep red and far red than any hps. Less blue than other cmh. Has uva and uvb too. The 330w Runs a much higher par than an ushio 600w hps.that's the highest rated par hps bulb. Ushio is 1100 umole/s at 12 inches away. The 330 is 1400 umole/s at same distance. The ushio is 95 lumens per watt. The 330 is 100 lumens per watt. Even though lumens have nothing to do with plant growth.

http://1000bulbs.com/product/59301/MHS-236935.html

http://1000bulbs.com/product/56194/PLT-400MA4TK.html?tid=car

so basically if I buy these two items I can have a 400w CMH grow light with a bit of elbow grease and creativity for under 100?

You can still get the Mastercolor 400w. They've stopped making them, there are still a supply of them to be sold though.

http://www.advancedtechlighting.com/cdmed18.htm

This company also offers the 330w all-starts if you choose that bulb. The good thing about this site is they pre-burn all bulbs and provide very in-depth info on their site.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=72215&page=1 This is a good thread on CMH's.

There's a new line of Philips bulbs out or coming out (not sure) called Master GreenPower CDM 315w. https://www.icmag.com/ic/showpost.php?p=5857642&postcount=5173

There's a line called Philips Agro Elite that offers 315. https://sunlightsupply.com/p-14937-phillips-mastercolor-lec-315-lamp.aspx

Here's a digital ballast that works with the CMH bulbs, I think it's specifically for use with the 315w http://www.elightbulbs.com/Philips-07357-IZTMH210315RLF-Elite-MW-Metal-Halide-Ballast

There's so much shit with CMH's that I'm not even sure what's what anymore. It's all very confusing on which bulb to use with what ballast because they're discontinuing bulbs and releasing new bulbs. I wish someone who really knew their shit could break it down in detail for new CMH users, without having to read thru a 350 page thread.

I do strongly belive CMH is far superior to CFL/HPS/MH setups because of the spectrum CMH provides. That's what a plant really cares about is spectrum of light, the lumens are for humans, that's what we see, not the plant. Although, I'm new to growing and I could be wrong, this is what I've read over and over at several different forums from several different users. I also like how CMH allows you to run 1 bulb from seed to harvest, although some folks will throw a HPS bulb in for the last 2 weeks of flower, not sure why (I think it fattens buds up) but I've seen alot of people saying they do this when they use CMH bulbs.

Get them from 1000bulbs. Advanced tech lags and are a bunch of idiots. It took a month for our bulbs to show up from advance. 5 days from 1000bulbs. When I email advance. They answer my question with a sarcastic question and/or same question I asked.

ii dP ii said:

http://1000bulbs.com/product/59301/MHS-236935.html

http://1000bulbs.com/product/56194/PLT-400MA4TK.html?tid=car

so basically if I buy these two items I can have a 400w CMH grow light with a bit of elbow grease and creativity for under 100?

Click to expand...

Get the clear one

http://1000bulbs.com/product/59300/MHS-232595.html

hyroot said:

Get them from 1000bulbs. Advanced tech lags and are a bunch of idiots. It took a month for our bulbs to show up from advance. 5 days from 1000bulbs. When I email advance. They answer my question with a sarcastic question and/or same question I asked.



Get the clear one

http://1000bulbs.com/product/59300/MHS-232595.html

Click to expand...

I personally had zero problems ordering thru Advanced, bulb was here earlier than expected actually. I like them since they pre-burn bulbs, provides me with a little peace of mind the bulb won't fail. Can't speak for the customer service as I haven't had to contact them.

That was a good question iidp .......