question about MV lights (mercury vapour)

Hey guys, i got a 400W MV bulb with ballast and everything today for free, is it any good for growing?? apparently its daylight spectrum or warm white or whatever, so mabe i can use it for budding?

ps i think the ballast that can take HPS or MV.

thanx in advance

i've heard MV isnt as good as MH or HPS, whats the kelvin rating on the bulb?

i am not sure, i am guessing low, around 3000 because its the warm white and not the bluey white

oh wait no i read now that daylight means around 5500-6000K

Is it true that MV completely sucks and its not worth using? That is what some guys are saying on forums

i've never used them; i've pulled a few out of decrepit industrial fixtures to try and see if i i could find a usable bulb, but oh well.

what kind of ballast do you have that supports MV? industrial/commercial?

i did a google search on them and found that they arent used often; heres one of the links, says that they arent as efficient with the light spectrum that plants use:

http://www.growkind.com/forum/showthread.php?p=266605

hmmm looks like im gona have to buy a n HPS... i think its some industrial ballast, it says for HPS on it, but the MV works in it too.

Buy a good hps bulb for it and it's still a good deal.

Mercury vapor and metal halide ballasts are the same and you can use either of those two bulbs interchangeably but it would be very odd if it could do HPS and MV/MH and even stranger if there's no switch to select hps or the others because HPS needs an ignitor which that likely doesn't have.

Ya, MV's are good for making lots of heat. And not much usable light for plants. As stated above, get a good MH bulb for it. Or wire in a igniter and get an HPS.

If the ballast says hps on it, isn't there a chance someone just replaced the bulb with a mv one at some time in the past? Mh and mv will work with an ignitor, it just reduces the lumen output and life of the bulb.