1000Wbulb in 400W balast?

R

retread

Active Member
I accidently put a 1000 w bulb in a 400 w balast and it was in there for at least a couple weeks at 18/6. Wondering what harm I may have done or if its a non event.
 
If it's still working you are good.

Now I'll start a controversy. I read that you can put a bigger bulb in a smaller ballast and the bulb will burn less current and last longer. I read they do this in street lights so they don't have to change them as often.

I haven't found a second place to verify this information, though, and I'd also think that the the 1000 watt bulb would pull too much vurrent and fry the ballast but I also read that HID bulbs work a little different than you'd think they do.

On second thought, when you use incandescent bulbs they just burn what they can instead of trying to pull as much as they can so it does make sense.

You've been a guinea pig so it seems to be true at this point.

Congratulations on being a pioneer on the forum !!!!!
 
Hey Mane just remember we are not 100% decided yet but he has ran it for a couple weeks so it would go along with what I read. Sometimes the only way you will know is by trying it.

Also you have to realize most people don't understand electric and are scared of it, so if it is any different than what the box says they are going to tell you that you are wrong. Also it may not produce optimal results but in a pinch or to make it last longer it may work fine.

Also it isn't supposed to work the other way around, if you put a 400 watt bulb in a 1000 watt ballast it is supposed to explode. You aren't supposed to put Halide Bulbs in a HPS ballast.
 
Depending on the Ballast, the bulb can not cause the ballast to put out more wattage than it is capable of. Some 1000 watt bulbs wont ignite with a 400 watt ballast. I doubt it caused any damage to your ballast. Like one poster mentioned it might mean the 1000 watt bulb would last longer running on less wattage.
Ive never run 1000 watt bulb in anything less than 1000 watts for any length of time, so I cant really comment on that.
It would interesting to do a experiement and see if the bulb lasts longer and how many lumens it emites.
 
i agree, a field test would be awesome. maybe i can try and email a company that produces HID lamps and get an explanation. to me, the bulb just looks like a big fuse. you can run it with less current, but not more.
 
very interesting of course, it would be of some use if you want to upgrade i suppose and dont have the funds for bulb and ballast but just for the bulb, i cant really see any other use for this though. apart from peace of mind if you do as retread did and accidentally misplace the bulb. good post though.
 
You guys seem to be missing a pretty important detail here. If you are plugging a 1000 watt hps bulb into a 400 watt ballast, you are probably only getting the light of a 400 watt bulb right? I mean, if all it took to get the light intensity of a 1000 watt bulb is to get it to turn on at a lower input wattage than this would be the power saving breakthrough of the century. This is physics though, you can't just create energy from nothing. I think the actual light output of the bulb is greatly reduced when doing this, but who knows, stranger things have happened.
 
If you email a company about it they are going to tell you to only put it in a 1000 watt ballast so they don't get sued if something happens
 
TheDankness said:
You guys seem to be missing a pretty important detail here. If you are plugging a 1000 watt hps bulb into a 400 watt ballast, you are probably only getting the light of a 400 watt bulb right? I mean, if all it took to get the light intensity of a 1000 watt bulb is to get it to turn on at a lower input wattage than this would be the power saving breakthrough of the century. This is physics though, you can't just create energy from nothing. I think the actual light output of the bulb is greatly reduced when doing this, but who knows, stranger things have happened.
Click to expand...

Yeah, they understand that. They're just saying you might be able to get more life out of a 1000W bulb than a 400W bulb. It is plausible so I'd love to see an experiment using a decent sample group. Anyone up for putting up 100 400W fixtures with 1000W bulbs?
 
well if they understand the light intensity is reduced I don't see a point. don't 1000w bulbs cost somewhere in the ballpark of 100 bucks a pop? 400 watt bulbs are about half of that correct? so why wouldn't you just buy 2 400 watts instead of 1 1000 watt? Is anyone else out there with me on this? But in the true spirit of RIU, experiment away!
 
mane2008 said:
damn $50 400w hps bulb where you getting ya bulbs from?
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't even use HID, I was just going from memory of some of the prices I've seen online. Pretty sure 1000 watts cost about $100 don't they? Well anyway the point remains: why buy a 1000 watt for twice the price when you could buy 2 400 watts? I am willing to bet the 2 400 watts used one after the other together last longer than a single 1000 watt...
 
oh the top of the line one's run about 95-100 for the 1000w. basic 1000w is $50 or so.

probably so, I'm scared to try that shit so I'll keep buying 400wat
 
Why buy 2 or more 400 watt HPS bulbs if you can buy one and have it last for 10 years. By lasting longer I am also talking about the brightness staying the same and also staying in the same color spectrum. I read that also, it''s not just wishful thinking that the bulb stays in spec.
 
Oh well I had no idea we were talking ten years here! Okay, all previous statements retracted, if you can get any bulb to last 10 years that most definately an accomplishment, lower light intensity or not.
 
went and bought a 400 watt HPS system got home and found out they had given me a 1000 watt ballast and a 400 watt HPS bulb it being my first system didnt realize anything was wrong and plugged it in , it would flash real quick everytime it was plugged in but would not stay lite up, then looked on the side of the box and realized they gave me the wrong ballast. So i called up to the hydroponic store and told them they gave me the the wrong Bulb so i got a 1000 Watt system for a 400 Watt system price, but it doesnt cause any damage because the ballast has an overload circuit so it doesnt fry anything in it. PEACE
 
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