its night and day over here folks yeah i dont have another room yet so i have one ballast lighting these two bulbs back and forth. to test it i let it flip flop every hour for 24hrs. it never gets total dark for more than an eyeblink and only takes the bulb a minute or two to fully light this was a great investment and saved me the cost of a light mover already, not to mention when i get another room or closet to light. Thanks DB2004, thanks guys! the box is a 10"x10" i added a 4" high velocity fan $5 from walmart and a timer from home depot that i mounted on the top. this shows how i added mesh inserts for air circulation since i have a 400w ballast in there. prior to wire tying everything tight on the left i have a 10' power cord and a 1' timed out for fan or multi ballast control from this timer. it is not connected to the ballast only to the timer. on the top right side i have a long and short set, those are the night/day from relay. the bottom right is a timer/relay bypass plug that connects directly to the ballast so if either t/r should go out i could still use the ballast easily. i left the switch for mh conversion inside on the ballast mount, i cant fit mh in my cool tubes atm so no use yet. this setup works with my ballast and in my situation. your situation may be different. wiring this is definitely not for everyone but if you are comfortable changing a ceiling fan, it should be no problem. i never imagined the possibilities untill this thing started flippin over my plants like the sun over a horizon *edited to add this wire diagram...
What relay are you using? Are they available online? Can I use a plastic box if I am just housing the relay and ground all the wires to a common ground lug? Very helpful post!
I am trying to do something similar but was hoping to find a switch or something like it. I want to run two bloom rooms with one ballast with a reflector/bulb in each room. When one room goes out, the other goes on so I am flowering 24 hours a day using only one ballast. Does anyone know of such a switch? It would have to go on the "output" end of the ballast, between the ballast and the reflectors. I can handle some basic wiring but am no professional so I was hoping to be able to purchase something.