Ballast, How do they work!?

Alright, ive been using 6 CFL's around 250w.
For my next grow, i want to use a 400w hps, i have a small cabinet i want to put it in, but one question, how does a ballast work, a digital one. Does it pull a certain amount of Watts from the socket and then bumps it up to 400w?

Please enlighten me.

Watts has little to do with the process, watts is the result of the power conversion.

A HID bulb needs a specific frequency to ignite and stay lit. A digital ballast takes the 60hz signal from your 120-240v receptacle and bumps it up to the frequency the bulb needs to fire up, sends it, then maintains a frequency to keep it lite.

That's a very dumbed down explanition of how must digital ballasts work.

So, the the power of the ballast will be whatever it is, and it will bump it up to whatever the light needs?

the bulb needs 400 watts so the ballast will need to pull 400 watts.

Hmm, so no matter what, 400w will be used from the house? It takes the normal 120-240v and just kicks it up to 400 or whatever the light bulb is?

Yeah pretty much, 400w will pull ~405w.
Depending on the quality of the ballast will, there is a little loss factor. So the ballast may need 405w of power to make 400w of the new power.

OK, just double checking before i buy, ive been looking at a 400w HPS, ill probably buy one in the fall, my closet gets to hot in the summer, and i plan on making some vents for fans and such. How hot do the HPS lights get? and do they give off a lot of heat?

Here is the one im looking at.
http://www.amazon.com/400W-Daystar-Digital-Light-System/dp/B001GKW08I/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1242358898&sr=8-5

Any recommendations on 400w HPS lights, please link them. Thanks.

Heat is equal to about 300W of heat. So it's like taking a 300w heater and running it on full in the room.
But I don't know how big your room is, so it's hard to tell how much it will heat things up. And if you plan on exhausting the heat out some ducting. The ambient temps, air flow around the area... many factors there. It's all based on your setup.

post some dimensions of the area

Im using a closet so i plan on buying one light. But the closet is 3.5ft deep 5ft wide and about 7ft tall if not 8ft. In the summer the closet is always hot, like above 90degrees. So i plan on waiting till fall to put a HPS light in. But i can put air flow ducts in. I can vent the the air under of the house, which is just dirt, wouldnt be hard to do. I havnt no basement, so its just like a crawl space. Thats just a rough idea on what i might do. I could run an Air intake from the roof, thru the attic into the closet very easy also.

But as for the HPS it self, what are the best brands for the job?

For hps lights, there are all very similar. I personally use industrial lighting because I don't believe the hype. reflectors can change the light, the reflector you have in the ad there is a little small to light up the whole area.
you might need a bigger reflector to light up the whole area.
As for your temps, they are high. Your fall temps may be alright as long as your exhaust the heat from the light into your basement. Right now if you put the light in, the temps would kill the plants.
You may need a reflector like this;
http://www.bghydro.com/BGH/itemdesc.asp?ic=HLRESL&eq=&Tp=

or something wider, to cover the area. If your using all of it

yeah, the temps are wayy to hot when it gets hot out. the closet temp goes up, the cfls are good as of right now. 250+watts i have. so. but i might buy one for the fall and winter seasons.

But thanks for the help.

orangejuice857 said:

Hmm, so no matter what, 400w will be used from the house? It takes the normal 120-240v and just kicks it up to 400 or whatever the light bulb is?

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it doesnt kick up anything. the 120v or 240v is the amounts of volts. watts are different than volts.

Alright well, what site would be the best to order HPS lights from?
I need a trust worthy site. Please Help.

I would definitely invest in a grow lamps, not the industrial lighting bulbs, believe the hype!
The lumen output from an industrial bulb may exceed that of a grow bulb, but the grow lamp is designed to provide light in the spectrums most beneficial to the plants. Industrial bulbs are designed for the human eye, which favors green light that is largely reflected by the plant. Grow bulbs concentrate their output in the blue and red spectrums, where the plants can use it. That doesn't mean you can't grow plants with these lights, but for an additional $50-$100 you will increase your yield, and make the most of the electricity you are paying for.
There are bulbs targeted for the veg (MH), flower (HPS), or hybrid bulbs that provide "full spectrum" lighting. Personally, I have a Growzilla reflector that allows me to run both at once.

orangejuice857 said:

Alright well, what site would be the best to order HPS lights from?
I need a trust worthy site. Please Help.

Click to expand...

ive heard a lot of good things about htgsupply.com and they have good prices for decent equipment.