can anyone awnser this...........

[viewsonic123]

i was wondering if a hps ballast will run a mh bulb.

the reason i ask is because i aquired a 400 watt light set-up with bulb in about november and have been using it with some success recntly i noticed while looking at bulbs that my bulb looks like a MH bulb and the bulbs i have been looking at are HPS

ie this bulb looks similar to the one i have in my homebox atached to my ballast that says 400 hps





and ths is what i see when i look for a new hps bulb




any input would be nice thanks

 

[Ono Nadagin]

bulb manufactuers are making the bulbs smaller for air cooling would be my guess

 

[viewsonic123]

so the bulbs probably a hps but it just looks different because its older?

 

[Americangrower]

It's easy to tell... when on the MH throws Blue light, the HPS throws Orange..

 

[GMT]

I suspect you are running a MH from a hps ballast. I understand thats fine but you cant run a hps from a mh ballast. Something to do with ignitors for hps bulbs but the mh not needing them.

 

[viewsonic123]

Thanks guys i think you might be right GMT i have read alot of your posts and you are very knowledgeable .

i did just buy a new bulb and i think ill will get better results with it

 

[Guest]

Thats definately a MH lamp,HPS are thinner and longer.

 

[Guest]

hps ballasts larger than 150w use an ignitor. the mh bulbs do not require an ignitor. if you're going to use mh bulbs i would suggest wiring in a switch that removes the ignitor from the circuit.

 

[aeric]

....or buy a conversion bulb to be safe

 

[Guest]

They're safer no doubt,but be aware they are notoriously low in par wattage supposedly. I like the idea of switching out the ignitor,good thinking

 

[GMT]

I think he just bought a HPS bulb for his HPS ballast, which is the simplest option, at which point he figured out what he had been doing, rather than what he wanted to do.

 

[aeric]

lol

 

[marx2k]

From what I understand, the newer digital ballasts run both MH and HPS interchangeably.

A great feature of digital ballasts is the ability to run both MH and HPS bulbs on the same ballast without having to flip a switch (it should be noted that not all digital ballasts on the market are programmed (or optimized) to do this properly). Digital ballasts are “intelligent ballasts” and most are able to recognize the difference between the two types of bulbs and fire them accordingly. Because of the high starting power requirements of some bulbs (such as the Solarmax) digital ballasts cannot always fire these bulbs due to the soft starting feature inherent to digital ballasts. Nor do digital ballasts fire multi-vapor bulbs.
http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/static/articles/0506_digiballasts.asp

 

[Guest]

yes you can do it but the bulb life will be cut down...i dont recommend it but have done it with a 400..

 

[Guest]

You install a 15A rated 125VAC SPST (on/off) switch on the X3 line from the igniter to the transformer. The nice thing is that this connection is usually made internally with a wire nut, so you just take the wire nut off and attach each side to the switch. If this isn't the case with your ballast

Set the switch to open (off) for MH, and closed (open) for HPS. These switches typically use a 1/2" mounting hole, so you'll need a drill and a 1/2" metal bit to mount the switch in your ballast casing. If you don't have one, and nobody you know does either, look in your phone book for a tool library - a place that'll loan out tools for a deposit. Some large lumberyards also run similar services.

 

[viewsonic123]

man i love this resource you guys rock and thanks

 

[Ganico]

What about running a 70w MH on a 70w HPS ballast that has no ignitor? Would that be safe?