600w HPS in 1000w Ballast.....

[Oo S0uP oO]

So I was wondering if any electricians out there could explain to me the mechanics of whether or not one could run a 600w HPS bulb in a 1000w magnetic ballast? I know it sounds like you would be asking for trouble, but from what I understand the ballast would be sending out 1000w but the bulb would only draw the 600w it needed to fire and no more, in essence prolonging the life of the ballast. It seems that outside a grow room setting it is common place to oversize ballasts to their respective bulbs. Ive spoken to a number of old school growers that say they have done this in the past but you know how that goes, hearsay and all. I want to understand the science behind the claim and was hoping for some first hand experience or an informed explanation. thanks.-S0uP

 

[thinn]

A little bit of searching never killed anyone.....


https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/207313-im-here-end-all-about.html

 

[Kite High]

umm...dont do it...and that thread is irrelevant

 

[Oo S0uP oO]

I read that thread. The videos are no longer available and there are no explanations as to why or why not to run the lower wattage bulb on the larger ballast. Thanks for the input though. -S0uP

 

[Kite High]

IMO seems impractical and dangerous

 

[Oo S0uP oO]

umm...dont do it...and that thread is irrelevant

Ya I didnt take much away from that thread either... but I do know that cities use 100w MH bulbs with 400w MH ballasts for their street lights...food for thought!

Also isnt there a company that makes a 1000w splitter to run 2 600w lamps off of? What if you were to run only one 600w in the splitter? Isnt that the same thing? Theres no functioning part in the splitter to regulate over current to the bulb? Why would one need the splitter at all if you intended to only run one bulb? Electricians???? -S0uP

 

[thinn]

I guess if the guy has been saying he has been running 400w bulbs in a 1000w ballast, that information is truely irrelevant to the question the OP asked KITE HIGH?

The only way you will get an answer is doing it yourself soup. Report results and enjoy the rep that follows. I can guarantee someone is doing this somewhere. Too many growers without sufficient funds. Good luck on your expedition.

As a side note if I had owned a mag ballast I would give it a shot in an enclosed hood. Worst that I could see happening is the bulb breaking, or failing all together. I just dont think there is enough current to blow the bulb. It might run hotter

Edit.....

Here us another link, I do not know if you have read this one also but people are doing this legitimately. If this isnt enough for you, nothing will satisfy your curiosity besides trying it yourself.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/2171-400-watt-bulb-1000-watt-2.html

 

[Kite High]

whatever...happy fires

 

[bottletoke]

yup itll work but get a capacitor and igniter for a 600w lamp....and you wanted to get tricky you could use that same ballast to run a mh lamp too just remove the hps cap and igniter then wire in the mh cap and your all set.
ps: a ballast doesnt send out 1000w, its capable of feeding a load that is drawing that much. if you run a 600w lamp off a 1000w ballast your only consuming 600w.

 

[Oo S0uP oO]

whatever...happy fires

With all due respect....Fuck you. If you have no scientific answer for your unfounded opinion keep your fucking mouth shut and maybe you could learn something same as I hope to do. Obviously you have no evidence for your belief besides what youve been told, shit you could be right, but I want to know why? You fucking lemming. Tell me to set my fucking house on fire, asshole.I hope you get cancer. Die.


RIU....Look,on a lighter note my instincts tell me not to stick a 600w bulb in a 1000w ballast BUT I dont think twice about what wattage bulb Im sticking into my desk lamp. I just want to know why it doesn't work? There has got to be a simple explanation as to whether it is or isnt safe to do.-S0uP

 

[Figong]

I guess if the guy has been saying he has been running 400w bulbs in a 1000w ballast, that information is truely irrelevant to the question the OP asked KITE HIGH?

The only way you will get an answer is doing it yourself soup. Report results and enjoy the rep that follows. I can guarantee someone is doing this somewhere. Too many growers without sufficient funds. Good luck on your expedition.

As a side note if I had owned a mag ballast I would give it a shot in an enclosed hood. Worst that I could see happening is the bulb breaking, or failing all together. I just dont think there is enough current to blow the bulb. It might run hotter

Edit.....

Here us another link, I do not know if you have read this one also but people are doing this legitimately. If this isnt enough for you, nothing will satisfy your curiosity besides trying it yourself.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/2171-400-watt-bulb-1000-watt-2.html

Not enough current to blow the bulb? HPS bulbs are lit with a current -spike-... I'd say there's more than enough to completely bbq a bulb.

 

[simisimis]

It's amazing, it seems such a simple question and none of the forums have one solid answer based on some concrete arguments.
Soup, you cannot compare HID ballast and regular laps like that Regular bulb is running at AC without any complex parts. CFL has inside ac converted to dc and is a bit more complex, but still it works from the same 110V 60Hz in US and 220V 50Hz in Europe, HID however has capacitor, transformer, ignitor. It is a complex system BUT there's gotta be an answer for this Hopefully this thread will come up with some decent answer why it can/can't be done.

 

[Oo S0uP oO]

It's amazing, it seems such a simple question and none of the forums have one solid answer based on some concrete arguments.
Soup, you cannot compare HID ballast and regular laps like that Regular bulb is running at AC without any complex parts. CFL has inside ac converted to dc and is a bit more complex, but still it works from the same 110V 60Hz in US and 220V 50Hz in Europe, HID however has capacitor, transformer, ignitor. It is a complex system BUT there's gotta be an answer for this Hopefully this thread will come up with some decent answer why it can/can't be done.

Thanks for your input! I know its weird that there are so many conflicting points of view on this. I mean it either IS or ISNT safe and more importantly effective (Lumen output) ...it cant kinda be safe or sometimes work out, right? Its one way or the other. I have been reading extensively to try and satisfy my need for an answer to this question and have come across a high number of people who have said they dont experience any problems when running a lower wattage bulb in a higher wattage ballast but not one who said they burned their house down, or blew up a bulb. Although, 1800 degrees at 50psi is nothing to fuck with so I want an explanation that scientifically puts all arguments to rest. Here is hoping-S0uP

 

[thinn]

Not enough current to blow the bulb? HPS bulbs are lit with a current -spike-... I'd say there's more than enough to completely bbq a bulb.

Yes, but if what the guys says is true he is only measuring 600 odd watts from the setup. Sort of the idea behind power usage in your home, it will only pull what it needs.

 

[simisimis]

Current will not blow a lamp. Lamp will take as much current (A) as needed. Volts is a different thing. There is a reason why ballast are heating that much. Transformer in there is converting your 110-220V to something else. To what, You have to check on ballast output section. The thing that transformer, as far as my electrical knowledge goes, is providing some current to capacitor and when it gets filled, ignitor discharges it to the lamp. Capacitor is not discharging power depending on the bulb, it discharges the same amount. Maybe at slower rate for smaller bulbs, but if that assumption is right the only reason people were able to have those systems running was because nowadays quality of lamps are better than manufacturer writes it on his specs.
I do not know about ballast in particular, but I used to make DIY stroboscopes for discos and that included soldering, making transformers generate power I need and using capacitor and ignitor for getting those instant flashlights. And if I used bigger capacitors, the light was stronger and it took more time to load and the lamp would go out of service twice faster than on smaller capacitor.

 

[Oo S0uP oO]

^^^^Right thinn, giving the ballast head space that should, in theory, prolong it's life. This is an important issue because if you can safely run smaller lamps AND prolong the life of said ballast it would benefit a great number of people as well as giving versatility to the equipment we already own.-S0uP

 

[Figong]

Current will not blow a lamp. Lamp will take as much current (A) as needed. Volts is a different thing. There is a reason why ballast are heating that much. Transformer in there is converting your 110-220V to something else. To what, You have to check on ballast output section. The thing that transformer, as far as my electrical knowledge goes, is providing some current to capacitor and when it gets filled, ignitor discharges it to the lamp. Capacitor is not discharging power depending on the bulb, it discharges the same amount. Maybe at slower rate for smaller bulbs, but if that assumption is right the only reason people were able to have those systems running was because nowadays quality of lamps are better than manufacturer rights it on his specs.
I do not know about ballast in particular, but I used to make DIY stroboscopes for discos and that included soldering, making transformers generate power I need and using capacitor and ignitor for getting those instant flashlights. And if I used bigger capacitors, the light was stronger and it took more time to load and the lamp would go out of service twice faster than on smaller capacitor.

Perfect, because I tried to entrap someone with that statement and it didn't work..... lol .. Am surprised no one corrected me on it.. the ignitor spikes with voltage, and not current... between 2-5KV.

 

[Oo S0uP oO]

So is the spike from a 1000w capacitor/ignitor combo going to have serious negative effects on a 600w bulb? Enough to make it dangerous? I am not an electrician, in fact I know exactly jack about the sparky trade, but I do consider myself a handy guy and am understanding what your saying as long as you continue to explain it patiently and we can get to a bottom line I think the community would benefit. Thanks again for everyones input!-S0uP

 

[simisimis]

To my understanding when manufacturer makes a ballast for 1000W lamp, it puts one capacitor, and to 600W bulb ballast goes another. Here comes another parameter called 'charge' I don't remember how it's marked in SI system, q maybe. Capacitor stores electrical charge and once triggered it discharges that portion of electricity. Maybe you noticed that when you are trying to make a picture of your plants under hps lamp there stripes appear. Cause it's constantly discharging just a camera are not fast enough to capture all of the discharges as our eyes does.
You are not discharging 1000W of power to 600W lamp thats for sure, but I believe you are discharging bigger quantities of power at a slower rate. If that's true it will not set the house on fire. It will reduce 600W lamps lifetime. But please note that I did not studied the scheme of the ballast, what exact parts it contain, how exactly everything works in there, I just found this setup working very similar the way stroboscope works, so I gave my assumption.

 

[bottletoke]

I am an electrical technologist and I hold my eelectricians license as well. Did anybody read my previous post? If you need more of an explanation fire away.

Psnly an hps needs an igniter/starter but all hid's require a cap.