Enclosed Ballast Light Systems?

[baet]

ever used one? im setting up a 400 HPS. and i'm debating wether to go cheap and get one of these enclosed ballast systems in which the reflector and ballast are integrated in the same metal housing, or just get a sunsystem10 ballast and a supersun2 reflector and buy a bulb...

the 400 watt enclosed ballast system is like 170-200$

the ballast,reflector bulb put-together is like 270$


i feel like having the enclosed ballast system would limit my future plans if i wanted to go bigger. and would it create more heat having the ballast next to the light in the grow cab?


what do you guys girls think?



edit:
also, this might be an incredibly stupid question, but can you run a 600 watt ballast with a 400 watt bulb? because id like todo a 400 watt run first, then maybe in the future go up to 600 watt if need be, so could i buy a 600 watt ballast and run the 400 on it and have the option to take it up to 600....

 

[DailySmoker]

Personally i wouldn't ever buy another light with a built in ballast. I recently bought one and due to the weight 15kg+ i cant hang it so ive had to rewire the ballast to a reflector and keep the whole unit outside my grow op. I wish id of bought a light with an external ballast it would of been much cheaper and better but oh well.

 

[baet]

dailysmoker-sorry to hear that. didnt even think about weight. thanks. yeah im thinking about the seperate pieces now. sunsystem10 ballast and supersun2 reflector

 

[cobcoop]

Im with Daily, I got one as well, and while I was able to hang it, it is a BITCH to raise and lower, my other light has the ballast separate and if I had it to do over, no way would I get the combo...

 

[Seismic]

Go with the supersun2/sunsystem10

 

[baet]

cobcoop-wow im glad i started this thread. im actually designing a grow cab for friends of mine who have never grown, and ive only done outdoor, haha, its a blast learning about this though, so when i set up my own it'll rock. thanks though. good thing my friends know nothing and are lettting me figure this all out, or they would be thrifty and would def go with the enclosed ballast light system.

seismic-yeah that setup sounds pretty sweet and legit. do you know if a 600watt ballast can work a 400watt bulb. because the 600watt ballast is only like 10 dollars more online, and that way i could go bigger to 600 watt if needed

 

[FreezerBoy]

Ballast and hood combined, bad. Mismatching ballast and lamp, VERY bad!

 

[cobcoop]

cobcoop-wow im glad i started this thread. im actually designing a grow cab for friends of mine who have never grown, and ive only done outdoor, haha, its a blast learning about this though, so when i set up my own it'll rock. thanks though. good thing my friends know nothing and are lettting me figure this all out, or they would be thrifty and would def go with the enclosed ballast light system.

Here's my clone/veg cab, it's roughly 3'x2.5'x2.5' using that white OSB cabinet material. I'm only running CFL's in it and using panda film, and magnet strips for the 'door', think I did it all for less than $60. Works well, but if you were going to have some heat in it you'd def want some fans. Good Luck!

 

[odin_]

i used a 400 mh like that one time

after a few weeks i took it apart and rewired it into a remote ballast

obviously thats the best bet