Weird Size Bulb

I just bought a new mh light fixture off of ebay, apparently it takes a 600 watt metal halide but it needs to be 120 volt. the only 600 watt mh bulb i can find is a 240 volt. Can anyone help.

I assume you are talking about ballast. Post up some model numbers and pics if possible, and I'll see if I can help.

P.S. pics arnt that important but may help.

I cant really see the ballast cause its mounted inside the hood, its a used hydrofarm 600 watt metal halide

Well your not useing it right take that bitch apart and see what you can see.


There may be a switch on the ballast to change the operating voltage.

EDIT: Powerhouse Radiant Convertible Halide / Sodium Plant Grow Lights by Hydrofarm at Home Harvest Garden Supply <----------- any of these yours?

i may be wrong, but the bulb doesnt know what size it is. almost all HID bulbs are able to run 120,240, or 440. its the ballast that matters. if you have a multi tap ballast you can rewire it for 120(if thats what your wanting to do).or like 4:20 said 'it may have a switch". if its not a multi tap then your stuck useing a 240 supply. but you should be cool with any 600watt MH bulb,,, (i think) lol

The bulb wattage must be matched to the ballast. A smaller bulb will usually be fed a wattage close to what the proper bulb takes, and will generally overheat and may catastrophically fail. Any catastrophic failures may not necessarily happen quickly. A larger bulb will be underpowered, and will operate at reduced efficiency and may have a shortened lifetime. The ballast may also overheat from prolonged operation with an oversized bulb that fails to warm.

yeah i think it is a convertible one like the one 4:20 Guy put up. Any opinions on that setup

I cant find any that have the ballast in the hood. Dose it have a normal power cord coming out of it?

Do you still have the E-bay listing available?

Or pics at this point?

yes it has the normal power cord coming out of it, what does that mean?

KronToker said:

yes it has the normal power cord coming out of it, what does that mean?

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It means it's set up for Envirolites and not HPS or MH. You'll have to rewire the lampholder with an outlet plug that'll fit into a HPS or MH ballast if you want to use the hood in that way.

what are envirolites

KronToker said:

what are envirolites

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Self-ballasting compact flourescents.

http://www.envirolites.co.uk/

do you think envirolites would work ok to grow like 4 plants

Now you know why they were selling it on e-bay. What you have is an older system.

GTH 600 Watt Metal Halide Bulb
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
On Hand: 14

KronToker said:

do you think envirolites would work ok to grow like 4 plants

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A 200w Blue Envirolite would be fine for Vegetative growth, but I think you'd struggle to flower 4 plants with only 1 200w red Envirolite.

Some type of model mumber or something would help extreamly. If you bought a 600W fixture I doubt it takes 200W CFLs.

Check out this site/page 600 Watt Hortilux Light Bulb there are also balasts on the right side of the page.

How much did you pay?

If you arnt in to deep on that hood/ballast you can get something sized a little more appropriatly for only 4 plants. This set will most likly fit in your hood 250 Watt HPS HID Light Bulbs Light Bulb $13 250 Watt Metal Halide Ballast Light Bulb $44
You will most likly have to use some of your parts but if you cant use it now anyways...

hey good info 420 thanks, how hard would it be to hook that ballast to my fixture?

It should be fairly straight froward. The only thing to worry about is the change of the ballats, actual screw in connector (E39-Mogul needed) will remain the same, and the other wireing should come with the balast; maby minus the wall plug since it is a milti vlotage model.

Changing the balast - The ballast size; since your current 600W ballast is in the hood allready should leave plenty of room for a 250W ballast. I would be most conserned about how to secure it once in; it says it comes with mounting hardware so you will probably just need a drill, screwdriver or other small household tools. As far as the the electrical goes, just make sure you do it right. I am an experianced electrician and can help you when you get to this point. PM me.

P.S. The 250W HPS has a 3x3Ft optimal spread with 4x4 suplimental spread. If you chose this option then your gonna want to put the bulk of the plants in the 3x3ft space for optimum lighting. If you think this will be to small of a patch for your grow space let me know your rooms demsions.

-=4:20=-Guy said:

If you bought a 600W fixture I doubt it takes 200W CFLs.

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Why? All he's got is a hood with an E40 socket and a mains lead. Envirolites screw into the same E40 connector as HIDs and HPS bulbs. Just because it says 600w on the side means nothing if it's a hood only, the ballast determines the wattage size - not the hood.

Check these out. High Wattage Fluorescent Grow Lamp Fixtures If it looks like either of these I would agree. That would be to say the balast isnt on board though which he says it is.

KornToker balls in your court.