Question about HPS lights

I just stumbled across a bunch of used hps parking lot security lights at a ridiculously cheap price. I'm pretty sure these would be great for growing but wanted a little input first. What do you guys think?

Leave em mate, ya never know how many hours they have done and you coud waste alot of potential bud growing under a substandard lights. I would pass on that myself.

I'm guessing they have a ballast set up in them. If your able to get bulbs might be a good deal

The ballast is in them. I don't know what wattage they are but there are 15 available. At $3.50 a light I don't know if I can pass on it. I've been thinking about starting a new indoor grow also... (evil giggle)

waste of time and money...Have you ever seen a bad ass grow with parking lot lights?......no you haven't and there is a reason.

Whats the reason? Guess I would figure out wattage and type of light. And voltage for that matter.

Actually along time ago, I grew a bunch of plants with a 400w street light with the ballast inside the light. Give or take being a one piece unit it is heavy as shit but they do work. Just make sure if you go this route that they are either MH or HPS and that you mount them very well as they should be around 30-50 pounds.

-MRGreenThum

Public use HPS lights are built cheap and sold expensive! You can use them but they use a ton of juice! They are an all in one unit for a reason when they go bad they go BOOM! Bsafe

They will work fine. iv seen thousands of street lights, and never seen one go BOOM, that should tell you how rare it is. Its also very simple to make the ballast into a remote unit. The only thing I agree with is the bulb itself is substandard. but they will work until you get better bulbs. just find out what wattage they are running, and get better bulbs when you can.

Check out my $0 box journal, I have a 175wMH that is super old, works great. Also have 2 100w HPS that are newer, and while the bulbs might not be the best, they are working great...

i actually used old parking lot 150w hps´s with used bulbs.

lol, grew about 4 grows with them then gave them to a friend.

he was getting about 100g per 150w hps (dwc) (though a very good strain)

still, the same old bulbs (quite alot of black on them , very sure they were a few years old even when I got them)

3.50 eh?

maybe 5 year old bulbs (on and off 12 hours every day)

and at least 6 grows that i knew of with them and still he was getting those numbers on the last grow.

pretty sure they were an american brand (military leftovers (nothing military about the actual lamps though, just came off an old abandoned base)

they will use the same ballast,cap & ignitor as a "real" grow light. in fact, if purchased by the military,they are probably advanced or philips brand ballasts. the gov always specs nothing but the best & is willing to pay above top $$ to get it. the "pro" grow lights you buy at a hydrostore often use cheap brand ballasts so you could end up w/ a better product. i would take a 10 yr old advanced ballast over a brand new made in china ballast any day
check the input voltage to make sure it will run on 110 or 220- many are 207 or 277 volt only and that wont work in your house

yes i forgot to mention the voltage, some are even 400 something.

though the one i had, just about handled everything voltvise.

I bought them today. I paid $40 for all 15 of them. They are 175W hps lights that run on 110. Some of them had bulbs in them and some didn't which is fine by me. The guy had them on his business but they were using too much electricity so he switched to more efficient lighting. I think it was a good buy. I paid around $140 for my 150W. They don't have dawn-to-dusk sensors on them either. That was all done with remote relays. Anybody know where I can get some good bulbs for an excellent price and how many square feet each one of these would be good for?

general rule of thumb is 50-100 watts per square foot.