Testing MH ballast?

[Crackerballer]

So my friend is about to buy a 36" light, and wants a combo MH/Lunar/PC for full spectrum lighting. I ahve read alot about the Aquatrade and Odyssea lights, and they seem to be ok, just come with under powered ballasts.

So here is my thinking, I read in another post that the ballast is really around 160watts. So could we test it, and just replace the 250w bulb with a 175w so it will run at full spectrum?

How would go about testing the true wattage of the ballast?

 

[DarG]

Not sure about the ballast but arent all those lights equipped with double ended halides? 175 watt halide is single ended, no de in 175 watt I don't think. Maybe if they would run 150 watt, but you'd still have to change the sockets.

 

[Crackerballer]

Didn't even think about that DarG, I will just suggest he swap out to a 250 Ballast.