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1000 watt hydrofarm ballast old school... mh to hps possible?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brativa
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1000 watt hydrofarm ballast old school... mh to hps possible?

Brativa 13 Replies 4,258 Views
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Brativa

Brativa

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#1
I want to know if it is possible to put in an ignitor for an hps into a hydrofarm ballast that is strictly mh? If not I'll get a conversion but it would make my heart happy to know someone who has or know how to. Thanks guys!!!!!?!?!?! I'm finally upsizing my grow from one 600 to 2 1000s and the 600 so I can run 3dif strains easily.
 

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#2
Pretty sure The core and capacitor are the same, but you'd need to be pretty familiar to be able to wire in an ignitor to strike a sodium lamp, I've worked on a few of those ballast and wouldn't feel confident doing it.
Granted, I've only been inside a few MH only radiant ballast, so I could be mistaken.
 
#3
It's pretty simple you just need to know and be aware when opening ballasts so you don't ark a cap and kill yourself. There is wiring diagrams all over for this stuff. You can buy everything you need at an electrical supply house.
 
#4
Well the cool thing is I have tw ok very similar hydrofarm ballast the one is switchable the ok next is not. I think I know the ignitor I need so I figure I take the two apart and wire them identical should suffice right?
 
#5
Other ballast
 

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#6
The ignitor will probably have red, white, and blue wires, and in the switchable ballast will probably be bolted vertically behind the switch. Only confusing bit will be the switch.
 
#7
Basically just open that one and copy that to the other one by following that switch
 
#9
The easiest fix is to buy a conversion bulb. My magnetic MH ballast had no problems firing up a MH to HPS conversion bulb. Please delete the link if it isn't allowed:



It works great!
 
#10
For the price of that hortilux conversion bulb you could buy a decent digital ballast and never have to worry about conversions again
 
#11
Kraken.headz said:
For the price of that hortilux conversion bulb you could buy a decent digital ballast and never have to worry about conversions again
Click to expand...
$46 is pretty cheap for a decent conversion bulb, although I haven't seen digital ballasts quite that cheap. I bought a conversion bulb and saved having to buy a bulb and another ballast. If you are starting out with no equipment, I agree that a digital ballast would be a good choice. If I already had a good MH ballast, I wouldn't consider buying another for the extra 40 watts of power that a non conversion bulb supplies.
 
#12
Thanks all for your help. I looked into both routes but am going with the eye hortilux conv bulb for now. There are so many different ignitors for the hydrofarm ballasts to choose from I will make the conversion eventually or just go digital like my 600 but it is nice to be able to fix these older ballasts instead of scraping them.
 
#14
Ignitor brand doesnt matter. Also don't buy them from a grow supplier or a hydroshop. Electrical supply house. The ones electricians go to. Last time I got one it was like 12 bucks. Same thing when my ballast went out. Got a new 1k multitap from them. Grow lights from these companies, when it comes to magnetics, is an old tech and all you are really paying for is the case the ballast is enclosed in and anything they offer like staggered start, hot restart, multi taped wired up for diff cords ect.

Just keep that in mind for the future. Good Luck.
 
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