changing bulbs

[ms4ms]

would anyone know if I can safely use a 250 or less m/h bulb in a 250 watt hps light fixture from htg supply. It is the decent one that is all enclosed. I want to change my lites around. thnaks in advance

 

[Puffin Afatty]

why not ask htg??? However, I dont think it wise to use a hps lamp with a mh ballast or vice versa jmtcw, I am not an electrician :hubba:

 

[andy52]

doesn't really matter about the fixture.its the ballast that has to be compatible.

 

[clanchattan]

you can run a 250 mh with a 250 hps ballast, but not the other way around. hps ballasts have a starter to fire the lamp that are not required for a mh. otherwise the ballasts are the same (core and coil, not sure about digital)

 

[ms4ms]

thanks clan. that is good news. I can now buy a 400 hps for flower and use the newly found 250 m?h for veg. I did ask htg, twice with no reply.

 

[smokybear]

I guess you could but I would just use the correct bulb for the ballast. Just my thoughts. Take care and be safe.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Sorry, but HID light are not interchangeable unless you have an electronic ballast or you have a conversion bulb. You cannot use a regular MH in a magnetic HPS ballast and vise versa.

 

[clanchattan]

thanks clan. that is good news. I can now buy a 400 hps for flower and use the newly found 250 m?h for veg. I did ask htg, twice with no reply.

the wattages have to be the same. a 400w for a 400w. a 400 wont work with a 250 ballast.

 

[clanchattan]

you can use a mh in an hps ballast, but you cant run a hps lamp with a mh ballast. hps ballasts have a starter that jacks the voltage up around 1000v to start the hps lamp burning. this starter is not needed for a mh lamp unless it is a pulse start mh.

a hps ballast is the same as a mh ballast (same wattage) the only diff. is the starter wired inline from the capacitor to the socket.

if you are going to put a mh lamp in a hps ballast run set up you are going to lose some life off the mh lamp, 100-200 hours, this is the only drawback my company has found to changing lamps. i am one of 28 field employees and the majority of what we work on is lighting. from led lighting to 1500w mh athletic field lighting. we keep info on properties where we've done the swaps and the 100 - 200 hours of life lost to some mh lamps is the only drawback we have found.

you can also check out....
www.specialty-lights.com/901540.html

they have ''super-agro'' lights that are mh lamps that run in hps ballasts.