iam using a 400 watt MH in a 1000 watt ballis, that duz MH and SODIEUM bulbs,,is this ok?

sure, as long as the ballast is rated 400Watt or above

the ballast may start to get hot as the coils will still generate the energy needed to power the 1000 watt bulb the 400 w bulb life may also be reduced as the ballast may spike (power serge) the bulb its best to stick with the correct wattage bulbs that the ballast was designed for one or both may burn out

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2E

Why would u not buy the right bulb? No matter whether u got the fixture for free or whatever the bulb is only about at the most 10$ Also a mh bulb will not light properly in a hps ballast & vice versa. DONT take shortcuts & always be prepared to live life as u see fit.

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It is better to be poor & have pot than to be rich & have none.

yeah thats not a good idea, i mean shit the ballast says 1000 watt mh for a reason

I have seen 250 watt MH bulbs run with 400 watt ballasts. They run the smaller bulb to 100% and the rest of the electricity is never realized. Bright, but not as bright as a true 400 watt set up.

I honestly don't even know... And apparently with over 2000 views a lot of other people don't know either.

Doesn't sound like a good idea, and get things wrong with this much power/heat and it might not be pretty.

Fires are one of the top ways grows are discovered. Just FYI

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Bukkake Bud: It might taste like splooge but shoots smiles all over your face.
When you'll suck on just about anything~think Bukkake.

Its like running your family car on drag fuel, works fine for a short period then bang.
Iv seen reflectors melt with the wrong bulb to ballast marriage.

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2E

It will definately lead to quick bulb failure using a 1000W ballast to power the 400W bulb

MH bulb and HPS have different starting/igniting amps for the bulbs....A MH ballast will not start up a HPS bulb reguardless of wattage.

they make conversion bulbs for use in either system.....If you have a MH system your need a HPS conversion bulb for that system.

The four basic types of lamps considered as HID light sources are Mercury Vapor, Low Pressure Sodium, High Pressure Sodium, and Metal Halide. All are arc discharge lamps. Light is produced by an arc discharge between two electrodes at opposite ends of the arc tube within the lamp


How is lamp operation wattage of HPS lamps calculated?

The voltage of a typical mercury or metal halide lamp remains relatively constant throughout its operational life — for this reason, the lamp wattage regulation of these ballasts can be defined as a simple percent. High pressure sodium lamps, however, see significant arc tube increases during their operational life; therefore, the high pressure sodium lamp ballast must compensate for this changing lamp voltage (even with stable input voltages) to maintain constant lamp wattage.

Consequently, a simple percent is not an adequate definition for high pressure sodium lamp regulation. Instead, a trapezoid, established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), is defined, which restricts the operation of the lamp to certain acceptable limits with respect to lamp voltage and resulting lamp operation wattage. The ballast is designed to operate a high pressure sodium lamp throughout its life within this trapezoid for any input voltage within the rated input voltage range of the ballast. The resultant value of the lamp's actual operation wattage over the life of the lamp when shown on a graph follows a rising-then-falling path called a volt-watt trace.