Need HPS users help

Hey guys Im thinking about getting a little hps bulb like 100 or 150 watt, but I dont really want to get a gnarly ballast and cooling fan and shit. Is there any way I get get around these and still use a hps bulb? Like are there any of them that plug into a regular lamp socket?

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

just buy a complete lamp thats the only way,on the smaller lamps the ballist is in the hood and you dont need ann air cooled bulb for small hps.

check out htg.com

you can get a 150 hps complet hood/light from sun systems on ebay for 70$

runsfromdacops said:

you can get a 150 hps complet hood/light from sun systems on ebay for 70$

Click to expand...

or Home Depot, they're called security lights there, but will grow weed just as well.

A 250w hps is a good in between. Throws off a load of light and about half as much heat as the 400w.

whay size room or growing area you got......you should just get the hps bulb and ballast...better than floro's...

You could get the $20 Econolight vapor-tight 150w hps. Wiring a remote ballast and making a hood seemed like less than a $50 job to me, but then I like to tinker.

Only drawback I can figure is they use medium base bulbs instead of the mogul base and they don't make "improved spectrum" lamps for them (yet).

Good luck

the ballast isn't an issue - they're not loud and you can get used ones really cheap. i think i bought a 1kw one once (new) with a bulb and reflector for about $100

heat is everything. a space heater is usually about 1-2kw. so 400 - 600w bulbs are going to produce something kind of similar. imagine running a space heater in a cupboard.

i had a real hard time dealing with the cost of buying fans and ducting, but it's so much effort without them it's stupid - boardering on impossible

peach said:

the ballast isn't an issue -

heat is everything.

Click to expand...

If heat is an issue then the ballast is going to be an issue. It puts out about as much heat as the lamp. 150ws generally have the ballast adjacent to the lamp, but they are easy to convert to remote ballasts. 150w ballasts are hot enough to quick dry weed in a pinch, so i thin k you should take it into account. But if you have plenty of headroom they won't matter. I don't have that luxury, so out of the room they go!

good luck

Well im trying to stay small, like two rubbermaid containers on top of each other. What would work well for that?

i too have a HPS question. i got one 250w hps on 3 seedlings. how far should i keep the light from my girls? i dont wanna fry em, but i dont wanna make em search for light either. my first indoor grow.

Drgreenhairyballs

You are not running anything but cfl's in rubbermaid storage boxes like that if you are talking the things most folks use as resevoirs. If you do, you're bordering on a fire hazard.

If you are limited to cfl's, there's a cfl subforum on here.
I would really try to avoid cfl's though, all cfl grows are inferior to HPS grows.

Go to goodwill and get a real box to grow in. Made of wood... Biggger... Big enough to fit a couple of those $20 econolights or similar. Minimum 1' deep, maybe 3' wide preferrably 4, and taller than 3' the taller the better, whatever you have room for.

You can certainly grow in rubbermaid containers with cfl's though, but it's just kind of slow growing with cfl's. to me it was like watching paint dry. There's plenty of examples though I've seen on here, search for them.

I wouldn't grow shit in less than a 4' wide cabinet about the size of what you'd put your dishes in.

I think im gonna stick with cfls for now then, too much of a roust

go like half meter...then move closer.........dont need alot of light to get going, even lil incadecents would work if you get the right one ....


get after it, if the soils hot, move em away....