I just read a post about making a grow light from parts from home depot. Can any one give me a parts list? I want to make a 250 watt hps with remote ballast to keep the heat down. I have heavy duty electical wire and plug connector, alum. coil stock painted flat white for the shrod/ heat shield.I have changed a burnt ballast from my flo lights some of the wires on the ballast went to the bulb and some went to the outlet.Is it the same with hps ? I know I need a mogul base that fits the bulb. What kind of ballast would I need to run 250 watt hps bulb? I am growing with FLO right now and need to up grade !!! My funds are low since I got injured and this sounds affordable. Any info will help.
I recently went through the same thing as you. A ballast consists of a transformer, a capacitor, and an ignitor(only for hps). Then all you need is the socket and wire. I found that no place in my area carries just transformers but some did sell ballasts by themselves. After pricing what it would cost to wire up one(from buying all seperate components or buying just a ballast) I found that it was the same price or slightly cheaper to just buy a complete setup. If you only want a 250watt hps than you could buy a security light for about $100. Then you would have to remote it but it is a simple task. Then all you would need is a reflector. Home Depot has those lights and sometimes they are on sale for a really good price. I've heard of them being as low as $50 sometimes but not on their website. Oh I forgot. To run a 250watt hps bulb you'll need a 250watt hps ballast. There is probably a more technical term (like a letter and 2 numbers or something) but everywhere I looked they just name the ballast for what kind of light can go in it like say a 400watt MH ballast. (Edited by kindkid at 2:55 pm on April 2, 2005)
