hi im trying to start my first growing project and i was wondering if these lights i have would be able to supply enough and the right type of light. they are metal halide 250 watts a piece i have 2 of them, the thing is they are the type of mh lights u see at a business or something the wall mount type. one of my concerns is the wiring because there is no plug to plug into a wall socket i know they are not suppose to but i was wondering if it would work if i connected a plug so i cud plug them into a wall socket. they have a red green and white wire coming out of the ballast. also the lights are attached to the ballast so any suggestions about heat build up and causing problems with growth . my concern is fire hazard and if anyone knows if these will work and if it is possible to add the plug please let me know and feel free with any suggestions
once u have a ballast as u say it will be ok to plug it in. with regards heat, its always better if u can put the ballast outside your grow space and run a heavy duty electrical cable to your light. power wise 500w is ok to just plug into the wall. ive a 650w lamp and i plug it into a simple timer which is pluged into a socket and have grown many many times with no issues. the ballast does get hot so keep stuff a few inches away and its grand
thanks for the reply the thing is it is the type of light shown below not exactly it but its close if you have used these lights before there are 3 wires coming out of it a green a white and a black ground wire im guessing, would i be able to attach a regular plug from a vcr or sumthing to it so i will be able to plug it in a regular wall socket http://www.elights.com/rabfzflood25.html
i dont know where u live and the wiring convention there but dont guess which one is ground try to work it out. follow the wires and whichever is attached to the casing is the ground. it will be fine to wire this to a normal plug and plug into a normal wall socket.
Don't use just any plug laying around, use a heavy duty one with 3 prongs, The best way is to get a heavy duty 15-25 foot extension cord and cut off the female end, you'll find that most of the heavy duty extension cords are color coded as well.
thanks man thats what i was thinking about doing i tried connecting a regular plug it turns out the lights wont even turn on unless thee grounded. safety i guess, since then i have connected a 3 prong plug to it and man these lights get bright. is it normal for the light to turn off if moved while it is lit??? ive heard if u turn ur light on and turn it off and try to turn it back on again it wont light because it needs to cool back down to a certain tempature. does anybody know if this is true just wondering im trying to be on the safe side here. if u look at the link i put towards the top of the page youll see the type of lights i have, well they're very similar. would it be possible to seperate the light from the ballast to help with heating problems, because im very low on money and have a small enclosed grow area, im tryin to bring down the heat that will be in the grow room
Yes it is possible. Simply move your balast outside the grow box, mount it, and use a similar gauge wire(s) to connect from the capacitor and ballast to the socket. This will help you a lot with heat. Should note, I dont use the BS electric ballasts most use, since I have an ADI (everything voltage) store in town which supplies replacement ballasts. So I do all the wiring, and have no pre-made enclosure.