ballast question

I have a 400w hps/mh conversion and I was wondering what are some of the safety hazards of the ballast? Also, where is the best place to put the ballast if you dont plan to mount it on the wall or hang it up? any advice would be great, thanks

When you say conversion do you mean switchable or are you meaning you use conversion bulbs in either a mh or hps ballast?Is its digital or magnetic?Outside of a grow room is good for magnetic ballast anywhere is good I like higher as the heat stay above the room and if you spill any liquids they are safe.If your using conversion bulbs make sure you use the correct conversion for the type of ballast. Never mist or get moisture on a hot bulb they will explode. Dont touch the bulb with your bare hands as the oils left on the glass can cause hot spots that burnt the glass and exploded.Use a good grounded outlet and when using timers get one that is made for the wattage and amps your gonna be using.Same with multi plug strips

i have a 1000k hps ballast but my MH bulb works fine with it?

waffle if its a straight magnetic hps ballast and your sticking a regular mh bulb in there your a fire waiting to happen since hps light ballasts have an igniter in the setup and mhs dont so it will eventually try to ignite the mh bulb and through a huge charge into the mh bulb and blow it.If its digital most of those now dont even have a switch anymore as the ballast detcet the bulb type at start up and uses whats needed to fire it up correct.

filthy thanx for the warning. Question :

How often would u think a fire would start? I just want to ask because i've seen a buddy that have done something like this at first when i started growing and i thought he had a conversion MH bulb, then i was speaking with ngt last night and he also told me he have done this and i went tried it for myself and it worked. I know its dangerous but the buddy of mine that have done that i did remember he ran that light for a long time like 2 wk veg time and switch back to his hps bulb for flower.

You never can tell I have seen them blow up when people have tried to use them. There was a post on this site showing what happend to someone who did it and they lost some fingers and aneye I think from the glass. You can try it if you want but call any hydro shop or email any web site that sells them and they will tell you what will happen.

Someone needs to make a tutorial to add a switch to disable the igniter in the HPS ballast, then you have yourself a switchable ballast =).

lol you can build your own switchable but as cheap as the new digital ballasts are why bother since they are switchable. $99 for 400 watts and $119 for 600 watters not bad

how about 1000k watters? And Ferncake says digi's send signals out to the Po Po.

I'm already paying 220 each for my 1k watters hps =(

I buy my 1000watters slightly used most I paid was $60 for 1.Ferns wrong. That was an issue that lumetek had with thier digitals when they first came out as they used a cheaper unshield wire that allowed radio interference.Nowe that that old issue was found its been corrected.They used the double shileded wires so no radio interference.Heres some prices at marylandhydro.com I see 2 different 1000 watt switchable light right off hand
6 Inch Cool Tube Reflector/Cord Set $99

Thankyou fletch for that info!

Is there any more info you can link me to about those unshielded wire? i would like to know more about this so that maybe i can check my equipment next time when i get a digi

it is a conversion bulb. i bought the setup on ebay from htg supply (link) 400w BOTH HPS+MH GROW LIGHT 400 watt Sodium and Halide! - (eBay item 180099389036 end time Oct-18-07 06:48:02 PDT)

tell me if you see any safety hazards with it, i am using all the stuff that came with it bulbs timers etc so im sure its the stuff made for it

The conversion bulb is safe to run in there as its mad to run with an mh ballast.A standard bulb would be an issue but if you use a conversion bulb your fine.Ill see if I can find the article about the wire shields for ya.You can test it by putting an am station on in a car and drive by the place with th digis on and if static or squeal comes you got cheap wires if no sound comes on the radio your good try a few statiosn to make sure

yes filthy nice, i once talked to this guy that claim he was in the cia and also even bodygaurd for micheal jackson!(he has a jacket inside a frame in his office!). He told me that if you use one of those old walkman(cassette walkman with am/fm) and put it on am and i forgot either to the lowest or highest station and you suppose to hear a straight static but if you hear something else like a pulse then he told me to get the hell out of the place because its bugged.

Filthy Fletch
Dude, I really apreciate your info so thanx for taking the time to pass along your experiance. I can see spending klink on lights, but damn fans are pricy too - thanx to your tutiledge I get how important the fans are.

By your price list, 1000 watters are only slightly higher than 600 watters so is it as obvious as it seems - buy the 1k watt lights?

Al B Fuct uses 400 watts on a few mothers, you go along with this? Also, would you use your mother cabinet to veg rooted clones (short time while they're small), so perhaps a little more light capacity for combination of mothers and clones?

I really like the Al B Fuct methood of very short veg and single large buds, is this compatible with your aero setup? Al B sez he likes to move plants somewhat to minimize the effets of location, so what do you think about elevating the outside tubes to get them closer tothe lights?

Also with aero misters, You have any idea the gph output of a single mister and what kind of pressure are you pushing? Where I live is almost 100 miles from the losest Big Mack - so an ag sprayer fan jet nozzle is much easier to find than hydro stuff. I am concerned too much pressure might injure roots. I was thinking about a little screw type pressure regulator as the plants may be more able to withstand pressure with growth.

Also, do you push a little new air down the tubes?

thanks for the help