For some reason growlight manufacturers are completely ignoring the small, personal grower. A quick look around Overgrow and you can see some very respectable bud being grown under 150's, and even 70 watt HPS lights. But the smallest ready made remote ballast growlight you can buy is a 250 watter, and they usually cost well over $150 (US).

So, as usual in the medicinal herb growing world, you need to take matters into your own hands.

Here’s how to turn a 150 watt HPS security light available at most Home improvment stores, into a nice remote-ballast grow light.



Materials & Tools:

MATERIALS
Regent GT150H, (About $79)
Heavy Duty extension cord of suitable length
One heavy duty grounded electrical plug end (male)
Electrical box
Electrical box plate
Romex cable connectors (3)
Wire nuts
Bolts, nuts washers
Strip of metal to secure ballast
Project case from Radio Shack ($6.99) #270-253A

TOOLS
5/16 nut driver (for removing parts from the casing -- regular pliers will work)
Philips head screwdriver
Regular screwdriver
Hammer
Power drill and assorted bits
Metal file
Wire cutters
Utility knife or wire stripper
Diagonal Pliers
Pliers

Wiring Diagram
Be careful...



Remove guts

Remove the guts from the casing - bulb socket, ignitor, light sensor socket, ballast. The ballast was glued to the casing. I heated the casing for a couple of minutes on an oven burner (high), and when it was getting too hot to hold, I put it on the floor and wedged a hammer between the ballast and casing and popped it out gently.



REMOVE LIGHT SENSOR

These security lights are designed to automatically turn on when it gets dark, so there is a built in light sensor that needs to be removed.

Remove all wire nuts.

Disconnect the white wire that comes out of the sensor (currently connected to all 3 other white wires).

Disconnect the black wire that comes out of the sensor (currently connected to the black “power in” wire).

The red wire coming out of the sensor is currently connected to the black wire coming out of the ballast. Remove the red wire, and then connect the black wire coming out of the ballast to the black “power in” wire.

Reattach wire nuts (there were 5 originally, now you only need 4).

Refer to the wiring diagram!



WIRE THE SOCKET

The socket on this particular light had some metal wiring connectors that stuck up and made it impossible to attach to the electrical plate without some modification (sorry no photo). Just pull the black and white wires off of the connectors, and cut the connectors down flush with socket base with diagonal pliers. Now loosen the connectors (screws inside the socket), slip the wires under them and tighten them back down. Please use some plastic electrical tape on the end of the socket to prevent any chance of the metal from the connectors making contact with the electrical box cover plate.

Secure the cord in the electrical box with a romex cable connector and wire it to the socket: black to black, white to white, secure with wire nuts. Some electrical boxes have a green screw inside to fasten ground wires, use that if yours has one, otherwise fasten the green ground wire to the box using one of the cover plate screws when you tighten the cover plate.



WIRE THE REMOTE BALLAST

Hopefully you can see the wiring clearly in the photo, but if not, refer to the wiring diagram for details.

You’re going to have to cut some holes in the Radio Shack project box for the power cords and some bolts to hold the ballast, ignitor and ground wires down.

I used a short length of metal (plumbing department) to secure the ballast. The ignitor had a notch that made it easy to bolt down. The ground wires from both electrical cords are screwed to the base of the box.

Cut a short length off the socket (female) end of the extension cord and wire it appropriately (again - see diagram). Wire the remaining electrical cord, including the grounded male plug to the other end of the box.

Use a tie wrap to bundle up the wires in the box and try to keep them away from the ballast, which will heat up during use.



TEST IT!
If you've done everything right, it should light.



Now, build a reflector and you’ve got a nice little custom grow light.

Safety Warnings:
Always wire the male plug to the bulb socket and the female receptacle to the ballast to avoid possible electrocution! Always use an all metal project box which already has ventilation cooling slots, or if your project box has none, please cut adequate cooling slots, or drill several vent holes in the ballast enclosure (project box) to allow the heat to escape the box. Not adding the cooling slots or holes, could result in failure of the insulation and/or the transformer. Also, please be sure the enclosure is located in a well ventilated area to aid cooling.

Sorry for bringin up old tread, but is there 3 wires on that red extension cord?

Yes there is, there should be a White, Black, and a Green.
Green would be to the ground usually. and the black and white Should be able to be hooked to which ever, seeing this is A/C current and this is not a motor that has a forward or reverse. This is how you get an electrict motor to reverse itself, is by reverseing the Black and the white wires. But a light will not go backwards.

Remember to wire it when it is not pluged in, and to be ready to unplug it when you give it a try after making this HPS light.

I love this HPS guide you put out here Mogie. Great job, very easy to follow. I never thought about a HPS security light. Props for you.>...>...>..

We are talking about AC voltage not DC voltage. An AC motor will not run in the opposite direction if you reverse the black and white wires.

Try it on a house hold fan. Trim the fat end the of the plug so it will fit into the outlet the other way and see if you can get it to run backwards.

The black wire is POWER. The white wire is neutral and the green is ground.

The black wire is one leg of the 220 Volts coming into your house.

(If you have a single phase hookup you will have three wire coming off the power pole to your house. L1,L2, and ground. Place a meter between L1 And L2 and you will get around 220 volts. Place the meter between L1 and ground or L2 and ground and you will get around 110 volts.)

The white wire is connected to the same bus bar in the main box, as your ground (green wire).

Touch the white wire to the green wire and nothing will happen.

Touch the black wire to either the white or green wire and you will get a large electrical arc and a tripped breaker or burned fuse.

Touch the white or green wire to your hand with bare feet on a concrete floor- Nothing.

Do the same thing with the black wire and you will get knocked on your ass.

You will also probably hear someone say from far away " Dose anyone know how to do CPR".

If you need to wire in an on/off switch do it on the black wire. If you do it on the white wire the circuit will still have power in it relative to the ground you are standing on. So even when the switch is off and the light is off there is still power going to the circuit. If you forget and start to work on the light you could get a bad shock or worse. CPR? Anyone here know CPR?

Be careful and stay safe.

Mogie fun little do it yourself post but you can now buy 600 watt switchable digital ballast brand new with a warranty for $115 and thats cheaper then this 150 watt single hps light .Plus from reading alot of posters on this site Im scared of national fires poppin up from dummies houses lol.Good read

good find mogie!

here's one for bigger lights...

How to wire your own Marijuana Grow lights &Save Money & Wiring 2 Rooms With 1 Ballast,

kp

Yep, My bad Growtall. I had a Brain Fart there.

im using a 70 watt HPS security light just like that one. it cost 59.99
i only have 2 planted seeds, both turned out female, i grew them in veg stage using two weak cfl's (23 watt each) in 2 months (aug 15-oct 15) the plants got to 14 inches each. I then flowered using this 70 watt security hps and they are now 14 days into flower with small hairy buds up and dow. One plant went to 22 iches currently and the other is only 16 inches. Not sure why one is growing sower, but the 70 watter for 59.99 will work great people.

or you could just buy a timer? lol people get them for when they go on vacation. it turns your light on and off automatically to simulate someone in the house- you set the time n everything

70 watt puts out around 6300 lumens....for $60.

4-27 watt cfls cool/soft white 2700k color temp is around $8...at 1750. you do the math.