where to buy a 400 watt HID

[Mystic]

i went to a few places and no one seemed to have none... where do you get your lights from?

[Weedguru Higher]

From hydroponic stores. You can probably get something good off Ebay also I imagine.

[Mystic]

From hydroponic stores. You can probably get something good off Ebay also I imagine.

are there any hydrophonic stores that you can name that are national?

[Weedguru Higher]

I don't know..the ones I got to are independantly owned. Try doing a yellow pages check for your area. Hydropnic stores are online also.

[Mystic]

thanks for the help i appreciate it man. do you know the average price range for one by chance?

[Weedguru Higher]

I pay around 50$ Canadian give or take a bit for the BULB. If this is a first grow then you are going to need to buy a ballast and reflector also. Follow this link to check them out

http://www.specialty-lights.com/plantgr ... ights.html

[Mystic]

damn... i have a 250 watt bulb and holder thing... do you think that would work on a few plants just for starting until i got enough money for those huge systems?

[Weedguru Higher]

Yeah I'm sure you could do something with a 250 watt. I'd say 3 plants maximum under it though

[Mystic]

dope! thanks alot, you the homie.

[tweedle]

Didnt want to make a new thread but would this be the kind of light you need and how many plants could be grown under it?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/400w-HPS-Dual-Spe ... dZViewItem

[Weedguru Higher]

That's the right kind of light, but I'm not sure about the ballast..it look kinda scary to me! It's nothing like a ballast I have ever seen.

The only ones I have seen took like this



Gooster, Sammy, Flynn, have you guys ever seen a ballast like Tweedle is showing?

[Weedguru Gooster]

I have seen and used the old school metal box ballasts - look like a metal can with a handle, weigh a ton and hum and buzz like crazy - your basic cheap ballast (get hot as well and not very efficient) and they lack the metal fans (passive fans, the heat dissipating type on the side of the white ballast you showed, Guru).

Ive also used and seen digital ballasts - very nice and look a lot like the one you posted Guru - and save about 20%-35% of energy as compared to the older type - I think they are coil or something, I dont know much about electricity and am respectful of it - take any other attitude or do not respect it and it can and may kill you before you know what happened...

I saw a guy with a ballast *similar* to the one in question - working on it in a shop I go to a lot. He said it was a total piece of crap, and that it had "blown" three of his 600w HPS bulbs, and that he had 4 of the ballasts and 2 didnt work at all. I assume they are the Chinese knock-offs going around. I try to buy reputable ballasts - Hydrofarm mostly, as they offer an amazing warranty and Ive *never* (knock on wood) had a single problem with a Hydrofarm ballast / system. They cost more - a 400w MH with regular MH bulb and the hood that Hydrofarm sells costs about $350 US or so, about $100 - $150 more than almost any other - except some European or Digital Ballasts, but I spend the extra money when I can and have had a *ZERO* failure rate on the ballasts, never had a bulb stop working (I replace them before anything ever fails - about every 15,000 hours) and never had any problems at all with Hydrofarm products. General Hydroponics as well.

So yes, Ive seen something that looked like that ballast, and first hand was told it was crap and not to buy it - but of course it just *looked* similar and I cannot speak to the actual product.

Hope it helps,
Goo