halides without a controller

drewp808

New member
i am going to run 250 MH without a controller at this time d/t financial reasons. is this a good idea? most controllers have the feature that doesnt let the MH come on after 15min of turing off, but the icecap ballast says that it wont let itslef turn on after 15min aftder turning off anyway.
is this ture?
 
Most MH E-Ballasts will not re fire after power loss for a set amount of time to allow a cool-down cycle of the bulb. You will be fine.
 
Why not use a $10 timmer from home depot. As far as I know metal halides just will not fire for a set amount of time after the power cas been lost.
 
i will use a timmer, i just didnt know if i NEEDED to by a controller with that sure on feature.
thanks so far for your input
 
Many people have been using MH before there was even such a thing as controllers :D. I've never used an electronic ballast before but with a normal magnetic ballast they simply won't fire if they're flipped on and off.
 
Keep in mind you could get a Reefkeeper Lite for $99 and then either upgrade the Lite in the future, or trade in the Head unit for an Elite and not lose any $ doing so. Its just an option, by the time you purchase a good timer, your a quarter of the way to an RKL anyways.
 
Even my magnetic ballast wouldn't restart right away after a power out. I ran mine on a regular timer for years with no problems.
 
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