Been using a 400 w hps in my room for a week now. Works perfect. Thought I'd use a 175 watt mh for two plants in my other closet. It flickers then dies. I let my hps run all day with no ac. And it worked fine. The mh.....nope. It ran a minute and then shut off. Also makes little noises. So I took off the glass. Put a little fan on the ballast. Also a home fan on the light. It stays on longer now. But still flickers and makes noise. I put the hps bulb in the same fixture....works perfect. I tried switching the ballast with my one that works perfect. And the mh still flickers. It's something with the bulb. I put the mh in the other grow light. Same problem. Wtf??? Running out of ideas. Don't wanna burn the house down!!!! Please help! I've used cfl for months and I can say that 1 175 watt bulb is brighter than 400 watts of cfl. Plus, so much less work. I don't wanna go back. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Sounds like the "issue" is your ballast, rather than the bulb. Most ballasts (especially ones that you'd find at HD) are designed to run one type of bulb OR the other, but not both. Some of the digital conversion ballasts that are designed for indoor growing will run both kinds of bulbs without issue. Check the electrical info sticker on the ballast. It should tell you what kinds of bulbs it is designed to run. The wattage difference between the two bulbs may also be the issue. HID lighting is not like incandescent lighting. While you can run a max' wattage bulb and lower wattage bulbs in the same incandescent lighting fixture (this includes CFL's), HID ballasts are designed to run a specific wattage bulb, or at least within a narrow range plus or minus. With HID, the wattage of the bulb needs to match the output of the ballast, or light output from the bulb will be diminished, or fail outright. This is my basic understanding of the lights that we use. It's not something that I've spent a whole lot of time researching and learning about. If I'm wrong, hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject will post up...
Thanks for your help! The ballasts are both digital ballasts for growing. One says its for both. And the other says its for hid. So I'm guessing that ones ok too. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I swear, that it has to be the bulbs. But, I might be wrong. I dunno. 😳 Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Manufacturer of the hood says I have a way too powerful ballast for the bulb. Just ordered a new ballast. And a 250 watt bulb. Fuck! Lol Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
LOL? Trying to fire a 175w MH bulb in a 400w HPS ballast is just the kind of shit that causes houses to burn down and people to be killed. LOL Burn it up, go for broke, watch the night go up in smoke. No serenade no fire brigade, just pyromania.
Confused....why not.just buy/a 400/watt.my...they are less than 20/bones online and you won't.burn your house down.
Unless you have a switchable ballast, it is not safe to run a MH bulb in a HPS ballast. A 400w MH ballast and 400w HPS ballast use different voltages. HPS ballasts use igniters, and MH ballasts have different capacitors. Edit: I see in the picture that one is a switchable ballast.
Count your lucky stars OP. Be thankful that the bulbs burned out instead of exploding and setting your house a blaze. Now you need to return the new ballast/bulb you ordered and get appropriate bulbs for your 400 watt ballasts.
That home depot bulb should say the ballast it needs to fire it on the box it came in. See what it says Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Grasscity Forum mobile app