Will it Work???

[53846b]

I have a 250w MH balast sitting around and i have a 150w fixture. Can you safely run the 250w ballast on the 150W bulb? What will the combination do? Will it last and be effective, or will the ballast burn the bulbs up?

 

[buffalo123]

I won't do it, overdriving mh bulbs would seem unsafe. Depending on the ballast you have , some ballast have different wiring configuration for different wattage bulbs; first check to see if you do. Thats an extra hundred watts of power and lets not forget the heat being produce. Will the bulb beable to withstand it safely. Consider the wiring is it enough for 250watts of power or will it burn.

 

[tatkinson]

In short, no a 150W bulb can not be run safely on a 250W ballast. MH is a totally different animal than incandescent lighting and incandescent rules do not carry over to the HID world. Bulbs and ballast must be properly matched not only in wattage but also in technology ie. HQI, Probe Start, Pulse Start etc. The ANSI number on your ballast will serve as a guide to which bulbs are to be run on your ballast: a bulb spec'd for a M### ballast should be run on a M### ballast and vice versa.