A Bored Electrician to Answer Your Questions

Miss MeanWeed said:

Thanks for the answer and advice. I needed to show an associate that it is possible and even likely that you will get caught ripping electricity and that it's not worth losing his op over. He still needed convincing so I showed him the infamous Tennessee Pot Cave and how they were busted because they got caught stealing power. That worked.

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IAm5toned said:

yep, thats what the ansi code is for.
i googled the ansi on the MC lamp and it tells me its a non retrofit pulse start lamp. the retrofit lamp you already have, will run in a hps ballast... but thats not the case with the new lamp. it needs a special ignitor.

here is the spec sheet for a generic CMH ANSI M142/M102 ballast, on it are the specs for the ignitor and starter combo throw them on that 150w HPS ballast core and you now have a CMH ballast for cheap! tho the price for the same ballast is 45$ plus S&H. off the top of my head i have no idea what the ignitor/cap combo would cost. when ordering a cap, what you need to know is the microfarad rating, which looks like this: 17 Mfd ± 3% that is a 17 microfarad capacitor, with a correction factor of plus/minus 3%. you dont need to worry about the correction factor, just the microfarad rating.
when ordering an ignitor, there are 2 things you need to know, first, the part number... thats the important one, looks like this: 356-AS-71-HC its kinda like a VIN, as each digit means something or the other, lol. the other thing is the ballast to lamp distance. thats important in that if you exceed the ballast to lamp distance of the ignitor, the lamp will slow start or not start at all. most ignitors ballast to lamp distance is 5 feet, though they make some pretty big ones for remote ballasts. i have personally seen remote ballasts 300' from the lamp.

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Danielsgb said:

I gave the company I ordered the bulb from Lighting Supply Co a call the next day. I put the HPS bulb back in with it's new Cool Tube Reflector. They had to ask someone about converting it and call me back. Of course they said I couldn't and I didn't want to say "My friend IAm5toned can tell me." I asked about the ansi code and she was surprised I knew ansi. I didn't want to mention I didn't know what it meant, but knew it was important. I asked if I could return it since the 250W coming was right, but this wasn't gonna work. She said they would credit my card back and just keep it. I had a feeling a different cap/ignitor combo could work.
I get the cap microfarad rating. On the ignitor the part # should be easy to find on it. On the distance I guess it's about 4'-6', but designed for more if I move it around in the garage. I'll get some prices soon.
I appreciate the help again. So I have a $26 bulb for free, so I figured even the $10 I paid for shipping and the new $45 ballast would be good for another set-up if I do another project in case the HPS couldn't be converted.

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silverhazefiend said:

I get what stoney is saying..but b4 i do any cutting and piggybacking ..i should test if all these outlets r on the same line..i find it wierd i have 4 jacks in this room..im hoping the 2 on the other side of the room closest 2 the hallway wall..r on the same line..one of my outlets in mr room is not a single double outlet but a triple it looks like ur normal outlet but it has an extra right next 2 it..whats the chances of me having 4 outlets in one room all on the same line??

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corners said:

Whats it take to make my 400 watt magnetic ballast into a 600 watt magnetic ballast, or 600 watt digital.

Also is it easy to make my 400 watt hps ballast switchable to a mh ?

TY

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kingofqueen said:

Okay heres the problem . I need my can fan to exhast the room every 4 min for 1 min .Is there an combination of a timer and some other device that i could achive a shorter cycle other than 15 on 15 off .I dont want to buy a short cycle timer nor do i want to build the one there are diagrams off so whats my options ?

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dubwooze said:

Iam5stoned, thanks a lot for helping everyone out. I'm a noob, but from what I can tell, some people look over the fact how important the distribution of power is. Now for my questions. I hope this isn't frustrating, but since I had most of this equipment before I started growing, I couldn't get the exact info. Ok, so I'm not sure the exact wattage, but I'm looking them up, so I can get at least a ballpark estimate.

1) Honeywell Air Circulator 7 inch, it is my intake fan, 80 watts
2) Living Essentials 16 inch oscillating fan, 75 watts
3) 465 CFM Squirrel Cage fan, exhaust, 110 watts
4) Redders AC unit, 300 watts
5) Hydrofarm 1000w HPS
6) Living Essentials 5 inch Desk Fan, 75 Watts

Questions:

1) I'm running the light on a surge protector, with the desk fan. This is plugged into a 15 amp, 1875w, 14 gauge extension cord. The AC, oscillating fan, squirrel cage fan and intake fan are all plugged into another surge protector, which is plugged into a weaker extension cord. Both extension cords are plugged into the same outlet. It is the only grounded outlet I have in my room, due to the fact I live in an old apartment building. My question is: is this safe, running off the same outlet.

2) It gets hot to the touch at times, the extension cord outlet, where I plug in the surge protector feeding my light and desk fan, just the part where they connect. Is this common, is it anything to lose sleep over?

Thanks a lot in advance. I really appreciate your help. The work of an electrician requires a skilled, intelligent worker, thanks again!

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Danielsgb said:

This is the help you gave me. I ordered this ballast https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/5986/BS-MH0150MT.html and got it going. Works great. Thanks

I'm trying to find this ignitor and starter combo and am having trouble. I found some sites, but nothing simple. What would you recommend?
I also got this H39 Ballast from a Mercury Vapor for $10. So from what I get, it has no cap/ign. and needs the right one for MH or HPS. Would it use the same one for CMH as my HPS core one I have to convert? Its 175W, but would a 150W work with the right cap./ign.? I'd like to order all this together if I can for shipping $$
View attachment 1065975
I also wanted to see what you think of a 70W CMH in this PC. I would want the bulb mounted perpendicular for light coverage, not parallel right? I found the bulb from the company I got a free bulb from http://www.lightingsupply.com/MHC70-U-M-4K-ALTO.aspx and the ballast from https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/3205/BH-M007071C511K.html Any cheaper you know of? The Bulb company did me good, so I trust them. It's .722 c. ft. so a 70W would be plenty. How's this look? Maybe for my PCC.
Daniels
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IAm5toned said:

1000 bulbs is pretty hard to beat, pricewise. ive also never heard anything but good about them, so id stick with them.
hate to burst your bubble, but the mv ballast wont work with a cmh lamp tho...
a cmh ballast needs to be a mh type ballast for lamps smaller than 250w. for lamps 250w or greater, an hps or pulse start metal halide ballast should be used.

a mv ballast has a higher starting voltage (600v open circuit) than a cmh, and will ruin the lamp pretty quickly, if it will even fire.
whats annoying about it is, its pretty hard to distinguish visually between a 150w mh core, a 150w hps core, and a 150w mv core. they look pretty much identical, but theres very subtle differences....

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IAm5toned said:

1000 bulbs is pretty hard to beat, pricewise. ive also never heard anything but good about them, so id stick with them.
hate to burst your bubble, but the mv ballast wont work with a cmh lamp tho...
a cmh ballast needs to be a mh type ballast for lamps smaller than 250w. for lamps 250w or greater, an hps or pulse start metal halide ballast should be used.

a mv ballast has a higher starting voltage (600v open circuit) than a cmh, and will ruin the lamp pretty quickly, if it will even fire.
whats annoying about it is, its pretty hard to distinguish visually between a 150w mh core, a 150w hps core, and a 150w mv core. they look pretty much identical, but theres very subtle differences....

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