Rewiring a 1000w MH ballast to use a 1000w hps bulb

Looking for guidance on this, ive searched the forum and the rest of the internet regarding this and havent really gotten any concrete answers.

I got the chance to buy some dirt cheap metal halide 1000w lights and love them. I want to add an ignitor to one of the lights and make it so the light can use a HPS bulb, or even wire a switch in and make it switchable.

Has anyone done this? Any successes? I have access to a master electrician to do the wiring so im not worried about that. I just want some opinions and/or tips/tricks to make this work. Really dont wanna go buy another light/ballast setup.

Thanks in advance!

Why not just use the MH in flowering, along with a rinky dinky HPS you can afford.. the 1k Watt MH WILL GET THE JOB DONE, and your bud will prolly be more potent.. not higher yield but for sure more crystals and smell.

MH and HPS use different ballasts.switchable ballasts use a HPS ballast (ansi code S52) but I have talked to tech support from Advance lighting & they say it is unsafe & will not rate a ballast for duel use nor condone doing it to their ballast. on the other hand, several companies sell them and have UL approval so.......

i purchased a warm spectrum mh bulb and im gonna see how it works for flowering. Ive just had a million ppl up my ass telling me i HAVE to have an HPS setup for my flowering. That it would be stupid to use anything else for flowering because it will just give me a shitty end result.

Anyone have any experience with the "warm spectrum" metal halide bulbs? Gonne use one to flower and hopefully it turns out ok.

randomhero1 said:

Looking for guidance on this, ive searched the forum and the rest of the internet regarding this and havent really gotten any concrete answers.

I got the chance to buy some dirt cheap metal halide 1000w lights and love them. I want to add an ignitor to one of the lights and make it so the light can use a HPS bulb, or even wire a switch in and make it switchable.

Has anyone done this? Any successes? I have access to a master electrician to do the wiring so im not worried about that. I just want some opinions and/or tips/tricks to make this work. Really dont wanna go buy another light/ballast setup.

Thanks in advance!

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The Advanced Nutrients Badass ballasts can be used for both metal halide and HPS - much easier to buy ballasts than to try to rewire ones you have.

And a lot safer, you know.

No sense in getting electrocuted when growing weed...

These ballasts rock -

• Internal Heat Shielding
• Radio Frequency Shielding
• No Leakage, No Detection
• 7 Year Warranty

really, sounds like a better deal to me, but I'm not the one who wants to learn to rewire. if you do get that done, let us know how it went.

Random, you will not get "shitty" results from metal halide. Quite the opposite. I've grown under MH both phases and under HPS both phases and saw no noticeable difference. many ohers I am in contact with have done the same thing with the same results. Since HPS gives me a headache if I stay under them too long, I tend to use a comination of both, switching off the HPS while I'm in there. But you will get superb results with the MH, I promise you.
And you are gonna love the 1K lights. They are beasts. I just about doubled my yeild when I went from 400's to 1K's.
Don't even try to adapt a MH ballast. You can adapt an HPS ballast to run a MH bulb by isolating the striker with a switch, but not the other way around.

Jack Harer said:

Random, you will not get "shitty" results from metal halide. Quite the opposite. I've grown under MH both phases and under HPS both phases and saw no noticeable difference. many ohers I am in contact with have done the same thing with the same results..

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agreed. MH grows seem to have a slightly smaller yield but slightly better quality.

How many of those million people who were up your ass do you know for sure actually grow? It just friggin' amazes me just how many "expert" growers are out there. Every one of them has a "secret" method sure to get you 10 lb per plant, and will tell you just how easy growing stellar weed is.......LOL

A conversion bulb may be a good compromise ?

For the price of a conversion bulb I can go out and buy a refurbished 1000w HPS setup. No point in getting a conversion bulb. That was the first thing I investigated. MH bulbs for HPS sockets arent that bad, but when you try to get HPS bulbs for MH ballasts.....cheapest i found was 186.99. Not worth it when i can go to inside sun and get a refurb ballast, reflector, and bulb for like 156 including shipping.

"For the price of a conversion bulb I can go out and buy a refurbished 1000w HPS setup. No point in getting a conversion bulb. That was the first thing I investigated. MH bulbs for HPS sockets arent that bad, but when you try to get HPS bulbs for MH ballasts.....cheapest i found was 186.99. Not worth it when i can go to inside sun and get a refurb ballast, reflector, and bulb for like 156 including shipping. "

Not to mention the loss of lumens. I paid about $120 for 5,000 fewer lumens 4 years ago when I bought a Phillips 400w MH conversion. I gave it away to someone on another forum. Either spectrum will give you great results. I am still watching the LEDs, and waiting for them to come down in price. I haven't seen any Bud Porn they've delivered either, but I'm hopeful.