HPS for Vegging

[stevo]

I put MH bulbs in my HPS balasts for Veg.
for cloning i use regular floresence

how does this work,ive never tried it because im paranoid of fire,and every supply store ive ever bought my lights off say its a no-no.
im not saying it cant be done obviously because i havent tried it 'and dont think i will'but can anyone else that has run a mh off an hps ballast let me know what the story here is.

 

[Hick]

no, any MH bulb will work.

There are conversion bulbs, made to burn in HPS ballast, but burning "any" MH bulb is not recommended anywhere that I have found.
You say "it will work"...but is it also a danger?..I would say so.
"

The light bulbs in HID lighting for hydroponics and indoor gardening are usually called "lamps".
A Metal Halide Lamp will only burn in a Metal Halide System with a Metal Halide ballast.
A High Pressure Sodium Lamp will only burn in a High Pressure Sodium System with a High Pressure Sodium Ballast.
A 400 Watt bulb needs to go into a 400 Watt system.
All the wattages need to be the same.
Look for a manufacturer's tag on the ballast or for a stamp on the bulb to identify the type and wattage.


Sometimes you can get the wrong bulb to burn for a while, but this is a really bad idea.
The bulb will maybe burn for 90 days, maybe not, sometimes a little longer."

http://www.3rlighting.com/html/3rlighting008.htm

 

[Mutt]

The curcuitry is different, can't be done. Yeah it may work. but hey I've seen capacitor under rated blow up after a week of running. and that was just a 12v dc. Not a good idea.

 

[Canso]

we've been doing it for many years without a problem. I admit it might be hard on the ballast, but a conversion bulb is $170, and a fully wired HPS ballast kit is $160. I seem to go threw a ballast every couple years, which i didn't think was a big deal.

Oh and I rearly veg. longer then a few weeks. lately its down to a week. gone are the days of 4 or 5' plants. I will never tie a plant again.

If you veg. for longer then a few weeks maybe its not a good idea to use a regular bulb.

 

[stevo]

ive got a 400mh/hps ballast that can run either bulb,but i think its just plain stupid to run a bulb in a ballast that it isnt designed for,again,my fear would be fire.i wouldnt go playing mix and match with these things-too dangerous!!!

 

[Canso]

ive got a 400mh/hps ballast that can run either bulb,but i think its just plain stupid to run a bulb in a ballast that it isnt designed for,again,my fear would be fire.i wouldnt go playing mix and match with these things-too dangerous!!!

arn't your ballasts in fire boxes? Ballast are the least of your problems as far as fire. There are still people that plug there 1000watts and a couple fans in a 120 wall socket. Thats a fire. everything should be on 240.
I have a sub panel with individual breakers that help me sleep at night.

obviously I've touched on a contiversial subject, and I've been doing the wrong thing for many years.

 

[Hick]

stvo..stevo..."eeeasy" on the stupid, please. We try hard here to not get/be or allow offensive behavior. Contraversial views and ideas are bound to come about. A sign of intelligence, maturity and respect is required in order to argue or debate a subject, without reverting to name calling or mud slinging.

I'll agree, placeing any bulb other than the specific type and wattage it is designed for, is not a prudent action, is something that should never be recommended or practiced for any reason.
That said, Canso. Why even bother switching from the hps for "one" week?..HPS does fine for vegging, AND, I ran my ballast for over seven years, before I had to replace it recently. And it was used when I bought it. Obvioislly, you're damaging the ballast. Obviously, it is a fire/explosion hazard.

 

[HGB]

I veg and clone under 1k hps no prob....

grow on

 

[stevo]

stvo..stevo..."eeeasy" on the stupid, please. We try hard here to not get/be or allow offensive behavior. Contraversial views and ideas are bound to come about. A sign of intelligence, maturity and respect is required in order to argue or debate a subject, without reverting to name calling or mud slinging.

i apologise if i upset anyone with my "stupid" comment,that was definitely not my intention,
it was a bad choice of words.

 

[Hick]

no problem stevo, just looking to deter a flamefest, don'tcha' know.

 

[tobyferter]

He is stupid to use equipment in any way that unnecessarily risks his life as well as others! Not only is he stupid, he is also incredibly irresponsible for trying it. On the up-side... he is responsible and smart to ask these types of questions, on these forums, before trying such a "stupid" thing. Not trying to start a fight or anything here but I just don't like the idea of somebody trying to sensor a forum that they are not running. If you are trying to "deter a flamefest" then you shouldn't go around being confrontational in such a condescendingly, bossy, self-appointed ruler of the forums type of way! Peace out and enjoy your day.

 

[bombbudpuffa]

He is stupid to use equipment in any way that unnecessarily risks his life as well as others! Not only is he stupid, he is also incredibly irresponsible for trying it. On the up-side... he is responsible and smart to ask these types of questions, on these forums, before trying such a "stupid" thing. Not trying to start a fight or anything here but I just don't like the idea of somebody trying to sensor a forum that they are not running. If you are trying to "deter a flamefest" then you shouldn't go around being confrontational in such a condescendingly, bossy, self-appointed ruler of the forums type of way! Peace out and enjoy your day.

Uuuhhh...he's a mod on this site. That means the owner of the site gave him permission to act on his behalf. Be nice now, this is a very mellow community.

 

[LaserKittensGoPewPew]

You gotta love the newbies who have just joined and think they know what the deal is on this site.

 

[cjf2612]

:rofl:

 

[flipmode]

i personality do to man they grow much much faster

I personally have used my HPS for the full grow i dont clone though, i used the HPS for vegging and flowering.

 

[dagnar]

yeah hps is great ,just dont get them to close .a good floresence is good to .i like using floresence for the first two weeks and switch to hps so i can trick the plant to thinking the the season changing.better chance of females .but this time around i treid hps first and got mostly males

Was wondering if anyone else has experienced a change in the male to female ratio based on light source? Out of 8 plants I planted there were 5 males and 3 females...

 

[andy52]

i'm thinking of keeping my clones and my mothers under fluros,after i get my veggin plants out.at least for awhile.if they don't look right,i will put the mh back in action.trying to conserve energy.i've got my girlfrien thinking the hid lights do not use much energy,lol

 

[DomsChron]

i personality do to man they grow much much faster

They grow much "faster" because the extremely red spectrum of the HPS lamp makes plants in the vegetative state stretch uncontrollably and you will have like 1/2 foot spans without ANY signs of another node coming any time soon LOL!

IMHO MH should even still be running for at least a couple days on 12/12 because it keeps nodes much more dense. Also, even very smort breeders say the MH early in flower dosen't effect pistil productin anyways so hey, why not. Then when you NEED the HPS like a week in, you'll have it and you can promote dense flower growth no problem.

What I think is that EVERYONE NEEDS their own switchable ballast.

i'm thinking of keeping my clones and my mothers under fluros,after i get my veggin plants out.at least for awhile.if they don't look right,i will put the mh back in action.trying to conserve energy.i've got my girlfrien thinking the hid lights do not use much energy,lol

LMAO man! They kind of do hahaha! But they don't end up costing that much anyways depending on the kilowatt hours in your area. Night time energy costs alot less.

 

[Tater]

I didn't really read the entire post but as far as "burning" clones or whatever with to much light its all a fallacy. How can a lamp that puts out like what 1/10000000000000 the intensity of the light the sun puts out burn a plant that loves to be in the sun? It dosen't make any sense, just watch your temps and you'll be fine. I would also suggest using a high quality bulb like a sunmaster or sonagro because they both have increased blue spectrum to encourage plant growth.

Just to give you an example here is how I grow. I take clones and as soon as they show roots out the bottom of my rockwool cube I put them in my hydro tub and put a 600 watt hps within 4 inches of them with no problems whatsoever.