Ballast Kits

[ureapwhatusow]

Im looking to set up lighting at a lower cost

i have been shopping ballast kits

in particular:

http://www.businesslights.com/venture-1000w-hps-cwa-ballast-kit-quadtap-p-40.html

I has some questions

looking at the spec sheets of other ballast ktis, it appears these components need to be within 2 feet of the light

most horticultural lights for small gardens have remote ballasts

my fear is that these are designed for the HPS where the ballast and the light are combined (look up at street lights or in warehouses)

and that they will not perform when wired 10' - 15' away form the light

anyone use balast kits succcessfully want to lent some insight please?

 

[FreezerBoy]

That's where I got my 250 for a CMH bulb. I have about 14 ft between lamp and ballast but, I'm not a 1K. Many in the CMH thread were having troubles firing the 400s. A cure was keeping the distance at 10 ft or less. However, there seemed to be a common denominator among them in that they were all discount HTG packages and had weak ignitors. Decent ignitors allowed for greater cord length.

 

[messn'n'gommin']

I have 2 Advance 250's, each with a 2' firing range igniter. I used a 12AWG heavy duty ext. cord and at 8' away, have had no problems and have heard other say they have theirs as far as 10'-15' away with no probs either. Venture makes a good product and I think you will be ok. Just use at least 14AWG wire.

Namaste, mess

 

[yamaha_1fan]

I used the ballast kits from HTG, they are a couple bucks cheaper than your link.

The only issue I had was bulbs going bad. Turned out the ignitors were too far away so I had to mount the ignitors on each hood. Since moving the ignitors, no problems and on my furthest hood, I probably have a wire run of 40 feet

 

[FreezerBoy]

Note the instructions on the wall in Yamaha's post. I may rail against their ignitors but, HTG's are the finest ballast instructions I've seen. These are NOT direct links(the actual files are HUGE PDFs.) They go to the Kits page. There you can get a low res peek and download if you like.


HPS Ballast wiring
MH Ballast wiring

 

[RedReign]

I have a couple of 8 year old Sunlight Supply 1k HPS ballasts. 1 went out about 3 years ago and 1 went out last month. I replaced both with standard 1k HPS ballasts from a local electrical supply house.

They work fine with grow lights. In fact, with the one I replaced last month, the ballast that came out of the SS was identical to the one that I replaced it with.