Ballast Question + rep

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sow217

Well-Known Member
I have a 1000 watt hydrofarm powerhouse ballast with cooltube and mogul socket for the bulb. I have a 1000 watt hps bulb and a 600 watt hps bulb, if i wanted to save a little money on electricity could i run the 600 watt instead of the 1000 watt or will that not work because my ballast is a 1000 watt system or does it not matter as long as you dont go over the 1000 watt amount? the cool tubes fit all types of bulbs, just dont know if the ballast will work with the 600 watt light

may be a stupid question but thanks for the help. dont wanna try it and fry anything without asking others.
 
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Evlaar

Active Member
you can do it, some people choose to. it just draws 600w instead of 1000w from the ballast, but there is no way id ever do it in my own house.
 
khm916

khm916

Active Member
Not sure but it sounds like your trying to pump 1000 watts into a 600 watt bulb....if it doesnt burn out on start up it will make the life much shorter...i wouldnt try it with anything i own
 
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sow217

Well-Known Member
thanks for the reply..im not trying to do that. i just wanted to be able to save some money on electricity and just veg with my 600 right now instead of my 1000. so ive gotten some mixed answers. anyone else have any idea or experience doing this?
 
Burger Boss

Burger Boss

Well-Known Member
khm916 said:
Not sure but it sounds like your trying to pump 1000 watts into a 600 watt bulb....if it doesnt burn out on start up it will make the life much shorter...i wouldnt try it with anything i own
Click to expand...
The ballast has UP To 1000 watts available, the 600 watt bulb will consume it's 600 watts. Nothing is pushing or pumping!
When you plug your 1500 watt toaster into the wall, (where MANY 1,000's of watts are available), the toaster just uses it's alloted 1500 watts, NOTHING getting toasted but the TOAST, LOL. Good luck & good grow.......BB
 
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wiseguy316

Well-Known Member
if any of these coments were true they would have never made a dimmable ballast, you can run a larger bulb in a smaller ballast not the other way around.
 
homebrewer

homebrewer

Well-Known Member
You'll fry your bulb. Do not use any other bulb in your ballast other than what it was intended for. Different capacitors are needed if you want to power a different bulb.
 
StonedBlownSkiller

StonedBlownSkiller

Well-Known Member
Burger Boss said:
The ballast has UP To 1000 watts available, the 600 watt bulb will consume it's 600 watts. Nothing is pushing or pumping!
When you plug your 1500 watt toaster into the wall, (where MANY 1,000's of watts are available), the toaster just uses it's alloted 1500 watts, NOTHING getting toasted but the TOAST, LOL. Good luck & good grow.......BB
Click to expand...
nice answer. I hear the only bad effects is the bulb will ignite slower. Other than that your good. Small bulb+bigger ballast=ok.....Bigger bulb than ballast=not ok
 
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sow217

Well-Known Member
im really confused on what i should do with all these different replies. i understand it may cause my bulb to burn out quicker than normal, but if thats the worst that could happen i feel like it might be worth it.. does anyone on here have any experience in doing this?
 
Burger Boss

Burger Boss

Well-Known Member
sow217 said:
im really confused on what i should do with all these different replies. i understand it may cause my bulb to burn out quicker than normal, but if thats the worst that could happen i feel like it might be worth it.. does anyone on here have any experience in doing this?
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Now I'm thinking I gave very BAD advise. Please check out this thread>> http://boards.cannabis.com/indoor-lighting/186306-600-watt-light-1000-watt-ballast-possible.html

I would defer to these folks in another cannabis forum, as I guess I was "talking out my ass", sorry....BB
 
kingofqueen

kingofqueen

Well-Known Member
Burger boss is right a the lamp determines the load the ballast just supplys it with the current it trys to draw .600 in 1000 watt no problem .
Seems alot ppl on here think they know about electricity but they dont . You can test this with an amp meter the 600 w will draw less amperage than the 1000.
 
moash

moash

New Member
if the bulb determines the load then y is a ballast needed in the first place
y not just plug the socket in the wall
 
StonedBlownSkiller

StonedBlownSkiller

Well-Known Member
  1. Function
  2. Ballasts are used to regulate the amount of electric current a light bulb draws from a power source. They are also used to provide starting voltages for certain types of light bulbs.
  3. Facts
  4. According to the Lighting Research Center, without the use of a ballast, light bulbs connected to high-voltage power sources would draw in uncontrollable amounts of electrical current. The bulb would immediately overheat and burn out.
 
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