hosehold socets do not come with a ballast ,,, and they are rated to somthing like 150 watt ,,, normal household lights ,, people usually put 60W in them ,, somtimes 100W ,,, but u can put a 40 W or a 15 W CFL if u want ,, if a ballast is rated to 600W & u put a 1000W bulb in ,..ur fucked ,,, ,, i have a 600W ballast & i spliced into the wires & now have 2 seperate 250 W bubls runnin off it ,,, so your 600w ballast is deffinently ok if your only runnin a 250w lamp,,,,, or u can just grow some ballz & go buy the original 600W bulb for that ballast ,, home depot ,, less than 20$