Asked by: Gardenia Kontz
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Do I need a ballast for a 250w HPS?

Last Updated: 22nd February, 2020

23
Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights require a remote ballast to work. When building your own plant grow light, it's important to match the ballast with the wattage of the bulb you will be using. A Metal Halide bulb must be used with MH ballasts (or convertible ballasts) of the same wattage.

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Keeping this in view, can you use a 250w HPS bulb with a 400w ballast?

The ballast is "capable" of pushing 400w but if u put in a 250w bulb, then the ballast/bulb should have no prob as long as you don't go over what the ballast is capable of!

Secondly, do you need a ballast? All fluorescent bulbs require a ballast. All compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs require a ballast, which is often integrated. All HID bulbs require a ballast, which is sometimes integrated. No LED bulbs require a ballast, although some are engineered to work with an existing ballast.

In this manner, can I use a 250w bulb in a 600w ballast?

YES ITS FINE!!! I would not however ever suggest putting a 250w bulb in a 600w ballast, it will blow and also potentially explode!!!

Can you put a 600 watt bulb in a 400 watt ballast?

No it will not produce 600 watts, thats why they make a 600 watt ballast. Spend what you can here, it is a worth while investment. It probably will light the bulb (magnetic ballast, digital i question), and there is no reason it should shorten the ballast life, the bulb however it most likely would.

Related Question Answers

Suli Folea

Professional

Can I use a higher wattage metal halide bulb?

Metal halides also usually need a higher starting voltage. Most metal halide lamps 100 watts or smaller require a high voltage starting pulse around or even over 1,000 volts. 175 to 400 watt metal halide lamp ballasts can power mercury lamps of the same wattage, but the reverse is not recommended. come in two voltages.

Saraima Vocke

Professional

Can I use a lower wattage metal halide bulb?

Absolutely not! The ballast is designed to deliver a voltage and current for that wattage of bulb. DO NOT use a lower rated metal halide lamp with your 175 watt metal halide ballast. The ballast will try MH lamp through the lower rated lamp and, in most cases, will overheat the lamp and cause it to explode!

Rabi Paap

Explainer

Can you change fluorescent bulbs to LED?

There is a wide variety of methods for converting to LED tubes. The simplest is to completely replace old fluorescent fixtures with brand-new LED fixtures. “We do recommend that if the ballast in the existing fixture is 5 to 7 years old that you replace the ballast when installing the new bulbs.”

Boyan Chilvers

Explainer

How do I know if a ballast is bad?

If your fluorescent lighting is displaying any of the signs below, it could be a symptom of a bad ballast:
  1. Flickering.
  2. Buzzing.
  3. Delayed start.
  4. Low output.
  5. Inconsistent lighting levels.
  6. Switch to an electronic ballast, keep lamp.
  7. Switch to an electronic ballast, switch to a T8 fluorescent.

Glinda Caloto

Pundit

What is the purpose of a ballast?

In a fluorescent lighting system, the ballast regulates the current to the lamps and provides sufficient voltage to start the lamps. Without a ballast to limit its current, a fluorescent lamp connected directly to a high voltage power source would rapidly and uncontrollably increase its current draw.

Joussef Thoman

Pundit

Can a fluorescent light work without a ballast?

Reverted question “ Can I make a fluorescent light work without a ballast?” yes, you can, but you need something to reduce the current as the bulb warms up. So, you can drive a fluorescent with a pulse width adjustable power supply, but this is what is in an 'electronic' ballast.

Abderrezak Orejas

Pundit

What happens when a ballast goes bad?

When it's too hot or too cold, the ballast can burn or fail to start your lamps at all. Heat combined with prolonged condensation inside an electronic ballast can cause corrosion. Some people may suggest removing the parts of the ballast casing and cleaning the electrical board.

Silvian Julebin

Pundit

How do I know what type of ballast I have?

You can determine whether you have a compatible fixture in seconds. Simply turn the light on, then take a photo of the fixture using your smartphone or digital camera. If there are no dark bands on the resulting image, you have an electronic ballast that will work with direct drop-in LED tubes.

Fernanda Laguia

Teacher

Can I use a 1000w bulb with a 600w ballast?

If you have a 400w you can put a 430w in an hps ballast. Or Digital ballast where they have a 1000w max and dimmable to 600w and 400w with the 1000w bulb. But to put a 1000w into a 600w ballast, pry wont work or could blow up in your face or burn your house down if you left it running.

Ainara Colas

Teacher

Is it okay to put a 600w bulb in a 1000w ballast?

Using it to dim down a bulb, for example to run a 1000w watt bulb at 600w, is not ideal. The better use is to dim the ballast down to 600w and then use it to run an actual 600w bulb. That is the big advantage of a dimmable ballast: it allows you to power bulbs of multiple wattages.

Fulvio Rage

Teacher

Can you use a 1000w bulb with a 400w ballast?

You can do it with a 1000w bulb with a 400w ballast but not the other way round. Use the correct bulb with ballast. 1000w's of electric is a lot to be playing about with and it will explode if you get it wrong or cause heat problems. Get an adjustable ballast, gaveter are quite good but have a big price tag.

Kizkitza Piras

Teacher

Can I use any HID bulb with my ballast?

Technically speaking you can use any HID bulb with any HID ballast as long as you can connect them. There is no such thing as 8k ballasts, it might be a different style ballast, but it absolutly does nothing to define the color.

Sashko Grueso

Reviewer

How many amps does a 600 watt ballast use?

Watts / Volts = Amps. For example your 2x 600 watts would be 1200 watts. Divide 1200 by 120 volts and you are pulling 10 amps.

Jandro Spinks

Reviewer

How do you match a lightbulb with a ballast?

By selecting a ballast with an ideal ballast factor, you can optimize the light output of your fluorescent lighting system and maximize your energy savings. To estimate your total system lumens, multiply the rated lumens of your lamp by the ballast factor. For example, 3200 lumens x 0.77 BF = 2464 total system lumens.

Kory Morgenweg

Reviewer

Can you run a metal halide bulb in a HPS ballast?

Conversion bulbs allow you to run HPS bulbs on a MH ballast, or a MH bulb on a HPS ballast. An igniter is an electrical component that ignites the sodium in the HPS bulb. All electrical ballasts can fire MH bulbs, yet only Switchable or HPS ballasts can fire HPS bulbs--unless you get a conversion bulb.

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EveryThingWhat Staff Editor

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22nd February, 2020

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