400 watt bulb with 1000 watt ballast

by John
(Cali)

Can I use a 400 watt bulb with a 1000 watt ballast? Overwhelmed in Cali.

Answer:  No- a 400 watt bulb is designed to run on 400 watts....if you pass 1000 watts to a 400 watt bulb, it will burn out almost immediately (or worse). The last thing you want to do is start a fire in your home!

In addition, you should only run Metal Halide bulbs with a ballast designed to power Metal Halides. You should only run High Pressure Sodium bulbs with a ballast designed to power High Pressure Sodium bulbs.

There are a few ballasts that can switch back and forth and can power both MH and HPS lamps, but most ballasts power only one or the other. Make sure you know what kind of equipment you are working with....it's much better to be safe than to be sorry!