HPS with dimmer - recommended?

I'm wondering it there will be any damages to the HPS bulb or the balace if I add a dimmer to it. Basically I won't be using the 1000w light to its full potential maybe use 250w of it or something. Is this bad?

You can not use a dimmer switch on any ballast or florescent lights. This will not work

it just will not and damage your blast as well. not a good idea to try!!! same thing goes for CFLs and floros.
(there are lately special cfls out there which can be dimmed but they cost about 3-4 times as much as a normal cfl, well at least as far as i have seen them)

There is only one way to use a dimmer and you have to buy the special ballast and the special bulb that are designes and state dimmer setup.They are rare and aroung $500 for a 100 watt setup and you still draw the same power but basically cut the lumnes so you can add more as plant gets bigger.A regular ballast with dimmer can casue a fire or explode the bulb and best case ruin the bulb or ballast

You can use a dimmer switch to control the speed of your fan but not the light.

hey mogie, that butterfly is way better then that santa dude, stick to it

Thanks green!

Gee Mogie, I miss the dog!

green_nobody said:

hey mogie, that butterfly is way better then that santa dude, stick to it

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mogie? is mogie here? i didn't see mogie. mogie? MOGIE????

ohhh i get it now thanks a lot guys!

what if you added the dimmer after the ballast on the wire leading to the light?

bigbudeddie said:

what if you added the dimmer after the ballast on the wire leading to the light?

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that dimmer will burn since it is not fitted to the power flowing thru it and the bulb will give no light since it won't get enough power to start.

but it is a excellent set up to electrocuted yourself

mogie said:

You can use a dimmer switch to control the speed of your fan but not the light.

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Um, no. Incandescent light dimmers will not work on a fan. They are intended for purely resistive loads. Motors present an inductive load and require use of a fan motor speed controller.

If you connect a fan to an incandescent dimmer and try to dial it down, the fan motor will stall just off the full speed setting. If the motor is left stalled, it will overheat, possibly catching fire.

If you need to dial down fan speed, get a fan motor speed controller. On the lighting aisle in your local hdwe, probably right next to the dimmers! MSCs are about $35 for a 300W unit.

As others have said, forget about using dimmers with HPS.

HPS and fluorescents work on similar principles and are similarly incompatible with dimmers. There are some fluoro lights now being sold which are compatible with a certain type of dimmer (generates a DC control signal voltage), but these are quite expensive.