Does a 250w HPS need a ballast?
Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights require a remote ballast to work. When building your own plant grow light, it’s important to match the ballast with the wattage of the bulb you will be using. A Metal Halide bulb must be used with MH ballasts (or convertible ballasts) of the same wattage.
What is a 250w HPS?
Brand New HIGH OUTPUT 250 watt High Pressure Sodium bulb is rated at 33,000 lumens! Standard 250 HPS bulbs only emit 27,500 lumens. Life expectancy is 24,000 hours. 22 CRI. The 250 watt HPS bulb is a very popular bulb used by the indoor hobbyist grower today.
WHAT LED is equivalent to a 250w HPS?
LED equivalents to sodium lighting
| Sodium Light Bulb Wattage | LED Equivalent Wattage |
|---|---|
| 250 Watt | 100 Watt |
| 150 Watt | 60 Watt |
| 70 Watt | 30 Watt |
Why do HPS lights need a ballast?
HPS lamps require ballasts to regulate the arc current flow and deliver the proper voltage to the arc. HPS lamps do not contain starting electrodes. Instead, an electronic starting circuit within the ballast generates a high-voltage pulse to the operating electrodes.
Do sodium bulbs require ballast?
Incandescent light bulbs — including halogen lamps — do NOT require ballasts. This leaves us with gas discharge lamps, including fluorescent, metal halide, high pressure sodium, low pressure sodium, and mercury vapor lamps. All of these require lighting ballasts.
How far should 250W HPS be from plant?
For 250W HPS, the distance of the lights from seedlings has to be between 10 inches (25.4 cm) and 14 inches (35.56 cm) from your plants. Place your hand where the seedlings are for about 30 seconds. If the light is too hot for you, that means it’s also too hot for your plants.
What does 250W mean on a lamp?
The 250W refers to the incandescent bulb equivalent. So this means these bulbs draw 30 watts, but put out 3,000 lumens of light, the equivalent of a 250 watt incandescent bulb.
Can I replace a high pressure sodium bulb with an LED bulb?
High pressure sodium bulbs (“lamps”) are an old standby for lighting that’s still used today in spite of so much talk of LED lights. LEDs, however, are better able to control their light, which is why a lower-watt LED can replace a higher-watt high pressure sodium bulb.