mh ballast hps bulb

whats the worst thing that could happened? pure hps not the conversion one... might do it temporary for a couple of days till my mh and hps conversion arrives

as long as its the same wattage then it'l be o.k. for a day or two. all the new ballasts of the last few years are MH/HPS compatable.

I am wondering what the worst thing that could happen is too, I have a 70 watt HPS system and wanted to get a 70 watt MH bulb to use for veg. Can we please get some more input on this, thanks a lot!

Tom

i was using a murcury vapor ballast and a metal halide bulb for like a year and i posted and every one said no way so i switched, but it worked for a year.
the wattage was the same 175 mv so i used a 175 mh but i dont know why everyone said no

So do you think I could get a 70 watt Mh and use it in my 70 watt HPS ballast?? Thanks a lot

Tom

you can use a MH with a HPS ballast of the same wattage but i dont think you could light a HPS bulb with a MH ballast as a HPS ballast has an ignitor which it needs to light a HPS bulb. A MH ballast is almost the same except that there is no ignitor.

tom__420 said:

So do you think I could get a 70 watt Mh and use it in my 70 watt HPS ballast?? Thanks a lot

Tom

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im pretty sure you could but I dont see any reason to switch to mh from hps for veg. Hps does wonders during veg.

Zhu said:

im pretty sure you could but I dont see any reason to switch to mh from hps for veg. Hps does wonders during veg.

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Yeah i know it does but i would like to try out the 70 watt MH and see how much better it is. I have a 250 watt switchable but haven't used the mh yet due to my plants being in flowering when the light was purchased. I have a few seedlings under the 70 watt HPS now and I would love to put a MH bulb over them (instead of HPS) so you think its cool to do? Thanks a lot

Tom

MH and HPS have different starting and operating voltages. MH bulbs especially require a certain voltage to safely sustain an arc. they are known to fail and even rupture in misapplication. A ruptured MH arc tube would wreak havoc in a grow room which is probably why you were advised against doing so. The arc tubes can reach 90psi and 2000F.

what the hell is a reptile ballast? if you mean the aluminum dome fixture with the black plastic socket then no. you cant use them. plus you will still need a 70 watt ballast (which is the transformer that powers the bulb). ive never seen 75watt HID lights..

if you want to use just the aluminum dome as a reflector it would be okay for up to 150 watts, but the platic sockets they come with have to go.