So you want to grow Marijuana, your ?'s answered here.

[suspect]

I know for a fact that you can rewire a 1000 hps ballast to opperate a mh bulb without damaging the bulb. maybe 400's are like that too.!! check it out

[jcj77d]

Originally Posted by LightBringer

Hey JCJ or anyone else willing to answer

what do you think would happen if I put a 150W bulb in a 400W ballast?
The guy at the store it will fry the bulb right away, but I dont want to use it for more then 1 day, I just want to check if a 150W bulb isnt creating too much heat in my situation, and I already have a 400W ballast.
What do you think would happen?

yes, it would explode, no questions asked. though i got 2 150w hps, & they dont put off that much heat, my setup in in a 4w X 8l X 8h w/ only 1 16" fan & my temps dont get over 90, but stay around 78-82, but that also w/ a 26w 10.0 uvb & 1 18" flouro

[jcj77d]

Originally Posted by gonejah17

I have a 400W ballast as well - and I know its on here a bunch of times, but I still get misinformation; What will happen if I put a 400WMH bulb into a 400WHPS socket/ballast??? I know it says not to a bunch of places but check out what this guy says . . . .


Lighting
Metal Halide (mh) or High Pressure Sodium (hps) are the lights to get for growing hydroponic marijuana. If you want to build your own metal halide light fixture, plans are located here. Metal halide light is close to regular room light or cool fluorescent light (blue spectrum) and is best for vegetative (beginning) growth. While high pressure sodium is in the red end of the spectrum and is best for flowering (later) growth.
You can run
1) either mh or hps light through both stages of growth (good).
2) run a mh light through the veg phase of growth followed by hps light through flowering (very good).
3) run both mh and hps light through all phases of growth (best).
I've found either a single metal halide or high pressure sodium light system works nearly as good as a dual system. So if you only have one or the other don't worry, it will work just fine. You can't use a standard hps bulb in a mh fixture, but you can use a mh bulb in a hps fixture of the same wattage. I didn't think this was possible till several months ago when someone I trust told me it was possible. So I decided to try using a 400 watt mh bulb in a 400 watt hps fixture. The plants are growing as well as they did under the mh bulb in a mh fixture. The bulb hasn't had to be replaced and the ballast runs as cool as it does with a hps bulb. When I want to use the hps bulb, I simply remove the mh bulb and replace it with a hps bulb. So if you can only afford or only want a single fixture, I recommend getting a hps fixture and standard mh and hps bulbs rated for the same wattage as your light fixture. Use the mh bulb for veg growth and the hps for flowering. There are hps bulbs that can be used in a mh fixture and vice-versa. But these are special bulbs and cost about double the price of a standard bulb. Bear in mind, you can only use a bulb of the wattage you light system was designed for. A 400 watt system only uses 400 watt bulbs. Don't use any other wattage than the one listed on the ballast of your light system. One exception would be a 430 watt bulb designed for a 400 watt system. There will also be a lamp type specified on you light system (probably on the ballast itself). My 400 watt metal halide setup specifies an M59/H33 lamp type. M59/H33 is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) ballast rating. M59 is a 400 watt metal halide ballast. H33 is a 400 watt mercury vapor ballast. So my light fixture could run a 400 watt metal halide or 400 watt mercury vapor bulb. 400 watts is about the best size of light for growing hydroponic marijuana in a personal garden. You should be able to grow 4 to 12 plants at a time. 250 watts should be good enough for up to about 2 to 6 plants. Anything larger (the next standard size is 1000 watts) and you are going to draw a lot of electricity. Anything smaller will limit the size of your garden to one or two plants, unless you can supplement it with strong sunlight. Expect to pay $150.00 to $500.00 for a 100 to 1000 watt lighting system. You can get a 400 watt gym type (high-bay or low-bay) light (hps or mh) for about $150.00. While a 400 watt Son-Agro, or other high end grow light system will cost $300.00 or more. I use a 400 watt metal halide gym type light (high bay) on an 11 plant garden, it works fine with 6 to 10 plants. I usually grow 3 to 6 medium size (18 inches) plants at a time. If you can afford a lighting system made for horticultural purposes with a good reflector and ballast, get it. It will last longer, allow the light to cover a larger area (more plants), and increase the amount of light individual plants get. You can also find some high-end dual (hps and mh) fixtures. These dual systems can provide both mh and hps light through both growth phases. You might want to consider one of these, if you haven't already bought your lighting source yet. If you can't afford better, a high-bay or low-bay type light will work fine. I use one. The best source I have found for buying lighting fixtures, bulbs, and other hydroponic equipment at very good prices is eBay. There is lots of competition and selection.


So is it true about the MH bulb in the HPS fixture???? that would be tits!!!!!! lemme know.

i dont remember the components but, Let's examine what is inside a ballast. There really isn't much depending on which type of light you buy. An high pressure sodium (HPS) ballast consists of 3 parts: The transformer, the capacitor, and the ignitor. A metal halide (MH) ballast generally has just the transformer and capacitor. so if you have the same wattage bulbs ande can rewire the ballast i dont see why it wont work. but safety is #1, so id say just buy a mh or hps system & buy a conversion bulb, its not that much more $ & its goona work.

[suspect]

Originally Posted by jcj77d

i dont remember the components but, Let's examine what is inside a ballast. There really isn't much depending on which type of light you buy. An high pressure sodium (HPS) ballast consists of 3 parts: The transformer, the capacitor, and the ignitor. A metal halide (MH) ballast generally has just the transformer and capacitor. so if you have the same wattage bulbs ande can rewire the ballast i dont see why it wont work. but safety is #1, so id say just buy a mh or hps system & buy a conversion bulb, its not that much more $ & its goona work.

I have rewired each one of my 6 ballasts repeatedly back and forth between MH and HPS, in fact i just switched 1 a couple of days ago. its a matter of disconnecting 1 wire to cnnvert to HPS, and visa versa. at least thats how its done on mine...

[gonejah17]

Originally Posted by jcj77d

i dont remember the components but, Let's examine what is inside a ballast. There really isn't much depending on which type of light you buy. An high pressure sodium (HPS) ballast consists of 3 parts: The transformer, the capacitor, and the ignitor. A metal halide (MH) ballast generally has just the transformer and capacitor. so if you have the same wattage bulbs ande can rewire the ballast i dont see why it wont work. but safety is #1, so id say just buy a mh or hps system & buy a conversion bulb, its not that much more $ & its goona work.

yeah but Ima cheapo with no dinero. Got the 400WHPS ballast and light for just $40!!!!! trying to stay real cost efficient. So I dont think Ill buy another HID right now. AND I have a T5 fixture that works good for veg, I was just curious cuz if I new it wouldnt damage my ballast Id definitely use both MH and T5 for veg. At least try the MH u know???? thanks so much for the info.


AS FAR AS REWIRING the light. how do u go about that???? I can post pictures of my light its pretty ghetto but it works right now. Im not an electrician but its a pretty basic setup I think. Id love to try this and see if I can go MH with my HPS light. Any further info would again be tits!!!! lol thanks

[suspect]

show the pics of the wiring, and if it looks anything like mine, ill try and help you out!

[jcj77d]

Originally Posted by gonejah17

yeah but Ima cheapo with no dinero. Got the 400WHPS ballast and light for just $40!!!!! trying to stay real cost efficient. So I dont think Ill buy another HID right now. AND I have a T5 fixture that works good for veg, I was just curious cuz if I new it wouldnt damage my ballast Id definitely use both MH and T5 for veg. At least try the MH u know???? thanks so much for the info.


AS FAR AS REWIRING the light. how do u go about that???? I can post pictures of my light its pretty ghetto but it works right now. Im not an electrician but its a pretty basic setup I think. Id love to try this and see if I can go MH with my HPS light. Any further info would again be tits!!!! lol thanks

i lost the diagrams, but this should help. Ballast Wiring

One of the best ways to save a bundle on equipment is to wire up your own lights from a kit. By buying the parts unassembled, you can probably construct a light for half of what it would cost "ready made" from a hydro shop. As well as saving money, you can avoid the paranoia involved in shopping there. Many people might be reluctant to work with wires and electricity, which is certainly understandable, But it isn't nearly as difficult as you might think.

Let's examine what is inside a ballast. There really isn't much depending on which type of light you buy. An high pressure sodium (HPS) ballast consists of 3 parts: The transformer, the capacitor, and the ignitor. A metal halide (MH) ballast generally has just the transformer and capacitor.

Every single one of these parts is available at pretty much any lighting or electrical supply warehouse, including the bulb and socket. Break out the phone book and look in the yellow pages under "lighting". Call them and ask if they carry "Transformer, capacitor, ignitor (if for HPS), and socket" for whatever size bulb you wish to use (150, 400, 1000 etc.) and type (Metal halide or High pressure sodium) light you wish to purchase. Odds are, they will have it. If not, try another store until you find the one which has what you want. You can also order this stuff from many online electrical supply places. There is virtually no worry about having this stuff shipped to your house, since it did not come from a "high profile" hydro shop.

When you purchase your ballast components, be sure to buy the correct line voltage rating you intend to operate it on. Most homes in the US are wired for 120 volts. If your house happens to have a different voltage (IE: 210) then you need the corresponding ballast parts.

Another option is to purchase what is known as a "multi-tap" ballast. This type of ballast has a wire connection which can be changed to allow several optional voltages. Some stores may only carry multi-tap ballasts to save money on inventory. A multi-tap ballast will work fine in any situation. Multi-tap ballasts usually have the following options inside: 120/208/240 and 277 volts.

Besides the transformer, ignitor, capacitor, bulb and socket, you are going to also need the following: About 20 feet of 14(or better) gauge wire, a male plug set, about 8 wire nuts.

The wire and the plug are for installing the power cord and socket to your ballast. You can also simply buy a long heavy duty extension cord, which you then will cut up. Whatever wire you buy, make sure it is rated to at least 15 amps and 1500 watts (14 gauge). That size is good for wiring all the way up to 1000W lights.

Now, when you get your parts, you will also likely get a wiring diagram. It may come on a separate sheet of paper, but more than likely it will be on a label on the transformer.

I have added a few descriptions for the sake of clarity, but the basic schematic is the same. This is for a HPS lamp and describes the wiring for the 3 internal components and socket. For some people, the schematic may be a little confusing. Let's take a look at the same thing but in a “real time" photograph, instead of the diagram.



You can clearly see all of the components you will be dealing with and how they will be wired together. Let's examine some of the more important points.

If you look at the transformer, you can see it is labeled as having a "short side" and a "Long side". These are my descriptions for the two different areas of the transformer. If you look carefully you will see that the transformer has two protuberances where wires come out. One of them is thicker than the other. That is the "long side". It is important to know the difference when you’re wiring it. The capacitor is a simple affair with just 2 wires.

The ignitor has 3 wires. Look closely at the wires running from the socket. You can see that each of them comes to a junction with two other wires. All 3 wires at a junction(and at all junction points for all wires) are held together using a "wire nut". This is just a plastic cap which screws onto wires to hold them together. Make all the wire connections using wire nuts, do not use tape.

Although you can't see it, all wires have something printed on them so you can identify them. It is going to be something numerical("X1","120") or alphabetical ("lamp", "com"). In my example, wires are noted with X1 or X2 or X3, other ballast kits may have wires which simply say "one" or "Two" and "volts"(instead of "120"). Sometimes wires are colored ( the ignitor wires in my example are red blue and white) sometimes not. When wiring a ballast, don't get mislead by the color of wires on the ignitor, capacitor or transformer. These wires are connected according to what is written on them, not by color. Color will only come into play when dealing with wires coming from your power cord and socket. These are going to simply be black, white and green with no labeling.


High Pressure Sodium (HPS)
This wiring description is for an advance brand ballast. If you end up with a different brand and the wiring doesn't seem quite the same, then it isn't. But should not be very difficult to figure out the difference after familiarizing yourself with the various wires and parts in the illustrations.

First, orient the transformer so that you know which side is "long" and which is "short". Locate the 2 wires that say "cap" on them. They should be coming from the inside of the transformer bulges. These wires all either get connected directly to the capacitor using connectors or by soldering, or with wire nuts to the wires coming from the capacitor.

Next, locate the wire coming from the long side of the transformer which is labeled somewhere with the number 3(or "X3"). Then with a wire nut, connect it to the number 3 wire coming from the ignitor. Make sure the nut goes down snugly and that no bare wire can be seen.

Before going any further, you need to figure out how far from the ballast the bulb will be placed. In my example, the wires to the socket are only a foot long so that I could get it in the picture. In real life, the wires will usually be 6 to 10 feet long. Use a piece of heavy duty (extension cord) wire and wire nuts to extend the socket's wires as far as you need to. Just attach black to black, and white to white. The green wire is a ground which will get attached to your reflector on one end, and to the transformer base/ballast box on the other end to safeguard against shock.

Then, find the white wire labeled "com X2" (or "com2" or whatever it is in your particular case) coming from the transformer's short side, the #2 wire from the ignitor (it may also say "com X2" or "com2" or simply "2"), and the white wire from the socket. Connect all three of these wires together using a wire nut. Make sure the connection is tight with no bare wire showing.

Find the wire coming from the transformer's long side labeled "lamp". Along with the #1 ("X1" or "1") wire from the ignitor and the black wire from the socket. As above, connect all 3 wires together with a wire nut.

OK, you're almost done! The last two wires should come from the transformer's short side. One should say "com" and the other "120". These are the two wires that will go to your power cord. Cut the extension cord to the right size and trim away the outer insulation to expose the three wires (white, black and green).

The white wire gets connected to the "com" wire on the transformer, while the black wire goes with the "120" (or whichever voltage you have) on the transformer. The green wire is the ground and that gets attached to either the ballast box or the base of the transformer to safeguard against shock.

If you bought a multi-tap ballast, now is the time to deal with that. There should be a wire with a connector clip on it attached to 1 of 4 possible spots on the transformer. These 4 options are for 4 different voltages. Find the one labeled "120" (or whatever your voltage is) and attach the wire/clip to that one. Some ballasts simply have a few extra wires inside labeled for different voltages. In that case, find the one for your voltage and strip the insulation off the end, then connect it with a wire nut to the black from the power cord. Make sure to leave the other voltage wires with all their insulation. For safety's sake, cover each of the unused wires (individually) using a spare wire nut for each one to insulate them.


Metal Halide (MH)
If you want a metal halide light, your task is even easier because now you only have the transformer and capacitor to work with and no ignitor. This is for standard metal halide ballasts. On occasion, you run into a MH ballast which has an ignitor. Try not to get this kind if you can. If this is the only option, then follow the instructions for HPS ballasts.

Connect the wire labeled "cap" coming from the transformer's long side to the capacitor. Connect the other wire coming from the capacitor (labeled "lamp") to the black socket wire.

The transformers short side will either have 1 or 2 wires coming from it labeled "com". If there is only one, then connect that wire with both the socket's white wire and the power cord's white wire. If there are 2 "com" wires, then pick one and connect it to the socket's white wire. Then connect the other "com" wire to the power cord's white wire. Connect the power cord's black wire to the transformer's short side wire labeled "volts" or "120"(or whatever voltage you have).


Testing
Now, even though it will work without it (and even though it got left out of all the illustrations), I recommend grounding the socket and power cords. The grounds are the green wires coming from these 2 cords. Both of these wires should be attached either to the metal base of the transformer or to the inside of the ballast box if it is made of metal. The other end of the socket ground gets attached to the metal part of the reflector. Double check everything. Screw the bulb in the socket, then plug in the power cord. The ballast should hum and the bulb should come on almost immediately. If it doesn't or if you see or hear anything unusual, unplug it.

Most likely, if you made a mistake, then the bulb simply will not light. Always wait five to ten minutes before touching any of the wires after unplugging the unit. This is because the capacitor holds electricity and you may get shocked if you touch the wrong wire. Double check everything again.

A quick word about the bulbs. While all HPS bulbs can burn in any position, a MH bulb must be purchased specific to the mounting position you intend to use. There are MH bulbs made specifically for horizontal placement, base-up placement, vertical (base down) placement and also universal placement. The universal type bulbs can burn in any position, but are not quite as bright (maybe 5% less) as the position specific bulbs.

[LightBringer]

I've recently added a 150W MH, a pretty low wattage for a MH, but I got cause I am afraid of heat, and I was right.
Today, 2 hours after starting the lamp, the heat in the closet got to 100 degrees. I turned off the lamp before the plants will die. Tomorrow I will add another fan.
any advices on how to bring down the heat? I dont want to go back to CFLs!

[jcj77d]

Originally Posted by LightBringer

I've recently added a 150W MH, a pretty low wattage for a MH, but I got cause I am afraid of heat, and I was right.
Today, 2 hours after starting the lamp, the heat in the closet got to 100 degrees. I turned off the lamp before the plants will die. Tomorrow I will add another fan.
any advices on how to bring down the heat? I dont want to go back to CFLs!

keep a fan blowing on the bulb, besides adding extra fans, try adding a exaust fan in the ceiling, like the ones in a bathroom, they are around 10-20$. & if you can keep the door to your closet open when lights are on, & if u can do this, but cant put in an exaust fan, take a fan & put it in front of the door to blow cool air into the closet. painting the walls a flat white, or useing mylar or foil (dull side out), will reduce heat build up, & anything black or dark will absorb heat, & white reflects it. other than that the only way is to possibly run a a/c duct to the closet.

[suspect]

a 150 should be effortless to cool down, Im having heat problems as well, but I have 6x1000HPS burning with an average daytime temp of 80-84 degrees, which is aight cause the days outside are getting cooler so with that so is my room, my thermostat doesnt even turn off my exhaust fan when the lights are on...

[LightBringer]

dude 6x1000? what crazy yield is that?

Anyway, where I live its 95 outside during the noon (!!!) and the entire closet is in a warehouse that is in a place that doesnt get a lot of fresh air. And I've no other place to move the project.

I've no AC anywhere near that closet either. But I'm gonna add 2 fans tomorrow. One intake and one that will take heat from the lamp.

How would you say should work running a duct from the lamp to outside the closet?

The grow shop has what they call "cool tube" which is a reflector specially made to be attached to a duct and outtake fan. No doubt it can solve my problem, but that thing is 120$ which I dont want to spend if I can do something else


Thanks for the advice, +rep

[suspect]

well they say 2lbs per light.and i may be adding one more in a week or two cause i underestimated howfast they can grow and my plants are gettin huge fast.

[kyle9107]

is it possible to grow a plant in a cabinet if it only has one hole on the bottom witch can either be an intake or an outtake?

[suspect]

chances are your gonna have stiffled growth, you need to exchange the air faster then it can be heated by the bulb. if you cant do this, your gonna have a hard time growing productively.
exhaust @ the top, new air in @ the bottom.

[Devin33]

all i have is a few questions.

its summer now, my plant is 4.5 inches tall, its in a cup, when should i move it to a pot, and since im choosing to grow outdoors, how do i force it to start flowering and when exactly should i do this? and how long do i force it to flower, or should i ask when could i harvest?