How to convert a high Bay HID to remote ballast.

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #1

PLEASE DO NOT POST UNTIL YOU SEE THE KILLER TELETUBBIES!!

HIDs can be expensive as all hell but they don't have to be. Here you'll be shown a general guide to converting a standard high bay warehouse light into a remote ballast grow light, for under 20 bucks. These lights are usually sold pretty cheap by warehouses, department stores, etc. I picked up 2 for 20 bucks a piece today in pretty good condition.

This is only a guide, I've left out the small steps to leave room for creativity and improvements as well as the fact that there are MANY different kinds of high bays in all shapes and sizes. I'm converting a 400w metal halide but the method I'd pretty similar for any high Bay.

Here's the before


It also uses this reflector which we will also use.

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #2

You start my simply taking everything apart. Don't force anything. It is supposed to totally come apart with screws to be worked on, you shouldn't have to bend or break a thing. I'll say again that these are not all the same but are similar enough that the pics should help.

Take the cover off


Then remove the mounts for the ballast, these will always be at the corners of the ballast itself. Leave the wire from the ballast to the capacitor connected.

 

Last edited: Oct 13, 2015

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #3

You should have your ballast out of the frame as well as the capacitor.
Next detach the socket from the light


This one has screws in the inside of the socket that screw in to the frame, some will be the other way around with the screws inside the frame. Also at this point you should disconnect the socket wires from the ballast wires

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #4

Now that you've got everything apart, it's time to put it all back together in a way that's perfect for what you need.

I used a piece of wood as my base and used nuts, washers and screws to suspend the ballast an inch above the board.


The ballast just sits on top of the posts, nothing keeping in place other than weight, they're heavy.
I used a 1 hole strap for the capacitor

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #5

Now for your reflector, you're likely not going to be able to use the same mount so you will have to fabricate your own. I used the cheapest aluminum strap that home Depot offered and it worked as well as I could possibly hope

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #6

Now that you've got your 2 parts separated and built to your own specifications, time to wire it up. All those wires can be intimidating but don't worry, most you don't use. Get some fresh wire nuts and at least 10 feet of some 12 Gauge wire.

You only need the 120v, the 2 Commons and the capacitor wir3 which should never have been disconnected. Attach a regular plug end to the 120v and the closest common wire, smooth side of the plug wire is 120v and the side with lines or ridges go to the common. The other common goes to the white wire on the socket (extended by the 12g wire) and the other wire on the capacitor connects to the black socket wire.

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 13, 2015

• #7

That's it, you're done it should work if you even glanced at this guide. Enjoy and watch out for them teletubbies.

 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #8

Good deal but a little late. Used high bay shop lights are not that cheap anymore. Not unless you find a contractor who has removed a shitload of them. They are all I ever used until this setup. Now the digital ballasts run cooler and are way cheap.

 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #9

By the way these ballasts run hot as hell. I would suggest something non-flammable as a mount. Otherwise you got it all right and good. I used 12/3 cable and wired my ballasts so they sat outside of the grow area. It helped immensely with the heat.

 

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #10

hotrodharley said:

By the way these ballasts run hot as hell. I would suggest something non-flammable as a mount. Otherwise you got it all right and good. I used 12/3 cable and wired my ballasts so they sat outside of the grow area. It helped immensely with the heat.

Click to expand...

You need to watch cord lengths when rewiring these things. I have some older 400W MH's that specifically say no more than 5' of cord between the ballast and bulb. I'm thinking on the older ones it would be too much resistance to overcome and probably get a degradation of light, but IDK, just hypothesizing.

I went Digi and not looking back..probably going to scrap 5 of these old MH's soon, no one wants them.

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #11

I'd keep for spare, these old magnetic ballasts can really outlast anything.

 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #12

WeedFreak78 said:

You need to watch cord lengths when rewiring these things. I have some older 400W MH's that specifically say no more than 5' of cord between the ballast and bulb. I'm thinking on the older ones it would be too much resistance to overcome and probably get a degradation of light, but IDK, just hypothesizing.

I went Digi and not looking back..probably going to scrap 5 of these old MH's soon, no one wants them.

Click to expand...

Exactly.I went 12/3 just to run 10'. If it had been longer I would have upped it to 10/3. For the unknowing - the smaller the number the larger diameter wire. Electricity goes AROUND wires, not THROUGH them. It's almost impossible to use a wire that is "too large" but easy as hell to go too small.

 

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #13

Once Washington and Colorado went legal grow equipment prices started coming D-O-W-N! More advertisement, more suppliers and competition helps make it all good for us.

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #14

I use 12 for everything, really I'm surprised they even sell 14 since you can't really put that stuff in houses any more. Voltage drops don't over until you get stupid with the lengths, I'm using about 10 ft so I can keep that hot ass ballast outside my tent.

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 16, 2015

• #15

hotrodharley said:

Once Washington and Colorado went legal grow equipment prices started coming D-O-W-N! More advertisement, more suppliers and competition helps make it all good for us.

Click to expand...

I agree with you 100% but there's still broke jokers like me out there that have to use stuff like this temporarily.

 

209 Cali closet grower

Well-Known Member

• Oct 21, 2015

• #16

doctor.j said:

I'd keep for spare, these old magnetic ballasts can really outlast anything.

Click to expand...

True. My first grow was with one. Back in 2002. Still use it in veg. My 400 w faithful.

 

doctor.j

Well-Known Member

• Oct 22, 2015

• #17

I just got a used apollo 400w for 80,gave the one in this tutorial to a friend but will be building the 2nd one with plugs and MC for a cleaner look for my backup, might also get a HPS high Bay for a back up as well.