Smaller Watt bulb than ballast?

Hey everyone, just asking another noobie question.

Is it possible to use a 250watt ballast and a 125watt bulb? or other combinations with the bulb being less than ballast.

i assume this is okay, but there may be considerations?

never seen this covered in all my time scouring the web.

cheers m'dears

No. Do not do that.
Ballasts rated at 250 w do not limit themselves to 125 w for a smaller bulb like with incandescent lighting.

So a 250 w ballast will pump 250w through the 125 w bulb, and could result in a lamp explosion.
I don't know about the smaller lamps; but a 1000 w can easily be 750* F when running at rated limits.
You don't want 750* glass projectiles.

Also, not that it matters that much for that scenario above - but different wattage/type HID lamps run on different AC voltages with the voltage rising with the wattage rating.

FM is correct. Unless you're talking about a CF or incandescent then no you can't or you shouldn't do that. 90% of the time HID lights need to have matching bulbs and ballast wattage's.

Great thanks for letting me know before it was too late haha, as you say hot glass projectiles are not favourable.

thats a pain tho i see a lot of 250w ballasts about and on offer too and not much of lower wattage ones. I was hoping to move away from CFL's as good as they are, i was planning on getting a HPS.

again thanks for the help lads