Using MH bulb with HPS ballast

hi

so as the title says, i wanna use my 400w MH bulb with a 400w magnetic HPS ballast, i did some research here and on other places and it didn’t end with a conclusion, some said its ok and nothing to worry about and some strongly advised against it and their reason was that MH bulbs need lower amperage and some other stuff so when you try to fire up a MH with HPS ballast it can shorten the life of the bulb or damage the ballast if not blow them and some even said it can affect the spectrum of the light!

most of this information was from some old threads on this and different forums so i just wanted to ask here, maybe someone from those past threads can confirm they had success working with it, or someone with some knowledge on electronics can end this with a conclusion, I don’t know please share your thoughts with me

Yes you can run a MH in a magnetic ballast, you cant run a HPS in an old MH ballast because the HPS needs an igniter.

The old magnetics I remember that were HPS/MH had a switch to enable the ignitor for the HPS lamp and disable it for the MH lamp.

It depends on the ballast....It very well could damage the bulb, or more likely blow the ballast...and I have a blown ballast to prove it. I would say research your particular ballast and go from there.

this is the product photo of the hps ballast:

and this is the mh ballast:

as you can see, they both instruct to use a separate ignitor

what would that mean in a situation like this?

btw thank you for your time everyone

Hopefully someone else can help you with your question...I've never built my own ballast. If you don't own these already you may be be better off buying a ready to use ballast that will handle both MH and HPS....Something like this, although I don't know this brand.

manfredo said:

Hopefully someone else can help you with your question...I've never built my own ballast. If you don't own these already you may be be better off buying a ready to use ballast that will handle both MH and HPS....Something like this, although I don't know this brand.

Amazon.com : Yescom 400W HPS MH Digital Electronic Dimmable Ballast for Grow Light Bulb Lamp with Internal Fan Dimming Options : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : Yescom 400W HPS MH Digital Electronic Dimmable Ballast for Grow Light Bulb Lamp with Internal Fan Dimming Options : Garden & Outdoor

www.amazon.com

Click to expand...

np man thank you for sharing your thought with me, i don’t own these yet, the problem is that i’m stuck with these shity home manufactured equipment cuz non-national gear is usually high in price and therefore lots of cheating from the providers and sellers, but i managed to get my hands on 2x 400w MH, original from the brand Osram, so i don’t wanna fuck the bulbs up as they are rare and pricey