Ballast box? Brainstorming help needed

use a mailbox...that would be great!..you could paint cool shit on it too.

the metal housing box is usally the same size for magnetic ballast for 250 and 1000 . most have slits/groves thats used to fix diff size ballast

Just go to home depot and get one of their 250 watt hps security lights there like $75-150 bucks. they got both hps and mh.It comes all assembled and everything all u need to do is hook it up

a good light is a good investment keep saving .. but while ur saving get some cfl's or florescents start scrowngin

You don't have to pay those prices. On Ebay a 250 watt hps is 75 bucks plus ship.

For what its worth, buy a finished product.

To DIY a box of sorts, isn't worth it. Probably gonna cost $20 min, then probably a tool or two, other hardware to mount a drill bit or two, etc. Plus what your time worth? If it takes you 3 hours to do it (research time included) That, at $20 and hour, is $60. And if you are doing this after work, consider it overtime, so $90.
So labor $90
Parts $30 (parts $20, extras $10)
Total $120.

Covers the extra expense of a pre-assembled unit.

Now that being said.....

I have a pair of 150W ballasts sitting on an aluminum plate. On the Plate between them is a heat sink form a 200A servo drive in free air. (but a stable location)

I liked the mailbox idea! (though I wouldn't use it for this prioject seems big)

I'm thinking
small toolbox?
File/index card box (staples, office max)
Micro computer case?
Gutted A/V component / small appliance?

ghetto -
rain ducting (down spout)
Large can (restaurant supply)

How about an ammo box from an army surplus store. Bet that would be perfect to house your ballast. If you enjoy doing the work like I do then it a bonus to go DIY,not a cost that needs to be figured in. I built a cabinet and it probably cost me more than a kit, but it is perfect (after a few major revisions) and looks nice and is very very stealthy. I am a very anal woodworker, so it had to be perfect but I respect any grow box (ghetto box included) that is hand made and produces some bud.

why in the world would you go to all that trouble to save a few dollars and end up with something probably rigged together and only 250 w. All the time and effort and money and if it doesn't work perfectly youll spend far more on it then going on ebay and getting a new light with ballast and everything that works as it should.

Ballast Box - for all wattages | Grow Light Ballast Assemblies


Electronic Ballast Boxes, Transformer Cans

d3rang3d said:

Ballast Box - for all wattages | Grow Light Ballast Assemblies


Electronic Ballast Boxes, Transformer Cans

Click to expand...

I dig the first one. Second one looks enclosed. I prefer to have a little ventilation or cooling fins.