I am running one 1000W for my veg light, and recently (Mon. night) changed over to a HPS as my previous lamp (SunMaster MH) decided to blow up and weld itself to the mogul base!

Copy/Paste of my post from another thread:

"Seems duing a particularly powerful gust of wind during a storm today [Monday 11/12] (guessing 55mph) we also had an apparent power surge. I never even saw the lights flicker, but the ballast passed through a damn high spike to the socket/lamp.

All I heard was what sounded like a transformer going, and the lamp inside the air-cooled and SAFETY glass covered fixture was throwing sparks like a welder! Holy Shit!!

Unplug EVEYTHING, and the lamp base was glowing like a piece of molten metal. I let it cool 15 min. and just for kicks tried to re-fire the lamp...no go, but the ballast was making "unhappy" noises.

I disconnected the ballast, and called the retailer I bought it from. He said to bring it in and he will replace it, along with the lamp. Well, I go to take the lamp out, and it will NOT budge...in fact it broke in my "hands", that being the cardboard square tube that it came in as I didn't want to grab that lamp with bare fingers. Thank God, cause it (glass) went everywhere. I disconnect the fixture, unwired it, and took it to the floor where I ultimately had to use 2 pair of pliers to break loose the remaining metal base of the lamp, and rotate the base to remove. Once I did I was shocked to see that the lamp base had actually WELDED itself into the socket housing!

Housing and ballast went with me on the 120 mile round trip to the hydro store. They tested the ballast and it was operating at near 100% capacity (this is good), and we determined that once the lamp base welded itself to the socket it created a direct short. Fortunately, due to it being a quality ballast (Euro-Systems) the front end of it could handle that return voltage, and no damage was done beyond the lamp and fixture.

The retailer handed me a brand new fixture (boxed), and told me to pick out a replacement lamp (I had paid $119.00 for the Sunmaster MH), BUT, this time instead of going MH I chatted with them a bit and decided (in light of recent discussions here) to go with a 1000W EYE-Hortilux Enhanced HPS. Same price, and Damn does that puppy put out some lumens!

Lamp blew at 1:30, so the plants went to bed 1 1/2 hrs. early tonight, and they were woke up right on time. (finished hanging the new light at 7:02, lights fire normally at 7:03)."

As a result, I replaced the MH with an EYE Hortilux Enhanced HPS...it is doing agreat job, but I'm not so sure I like having the "yellow" light as my veg light.

I got used to the white brilliance of the MH, and also was getting some medicinal benefit from it, as I would relax and have my morning coffee out in the grow room and soak up those beautiful rays (we don't get much sun here this time of year).

Anyone using on of those fancy newfangled DUAL lamps? the Hortilux with both the MH and HPS in the same lamp?

I'm going to keep this HPS lamp for flowering purposes if I ever move the 1000W ballast into the flower room, but I think I'll be purchasing a MH lamp off the web today..and want to pick the BEST one I can get. Anything under $200 is acceptible, and that should buy any of 'em.

What do you recommend?

ISO

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Have you found any good answers? Obviously, not thru this thread but anywhere else? My friend dropped off a 1000w conversion ballast(MH and HPS) and 1 HPS bulb that he said was 6 months old....oh, and 7 WW plants massively infested with spider mites....decided to get some Einstein oil(neem) and take some clones and kill the rest of the plants....huge decision, I know, but I was having no luck at all since it was such a bad infestation....luckily, I know that they came with them by the amount of tiny webs there were on the day he brought them....I just thought I could save them....I failed but I'm trying again with the clones....

I need to know what are the best brands of lights to search for on the net as I want a MH and a new HPS before it goes out....I want quality but not at outrageous price....actually, I just want the best quality for the money.....I don't want conversion bulbs(just figure, too many problems from what I have read)....Thanks, in advance, for any knowledge that you have gained since your search started....Take Care!

personally i wouldn't waste anytime with those infested plants...even with the clones the borg will follow...peace

I was kinda thinking of that also(I have been reading alot for the last month straight and read that opinion many times too)....I then realized that I haven't even decided which seeds to purchase...so I figured that I had time to waste and my wife will learn about how BAD spidermites really are.....perhaps, also, I may learn how to erradicate them in the process.

I've only had spider mites once, and fortunately they shoed up in an indoor bathroom I was using for a nursery...all 4 plants ended up as roadside decaying vegitation somewhere in WA. Wasn't worth taking the chance, adn they were expendable.

This is the lamp I am running now...and so far I believe the results are very good!! I've seen super vegging and better undergrowth from all the plants under this lamp. Not cheap, but IMO (so far after a couple weeks) it is worth the extra investment.

http://www.eyehortilux.com/superblue.html

A balanced light spectrum is important to the plants, and I think the extra red spectrum in this lamp + the MH in blue (and it's flipping blue, too!) is the right combo.

Very pleased so far. there is another lamp made by Ushio, lower cost and better performance (based on their spec's, of course).

http://www.ushio.com/products/horticulture/hiluxgro.htm

Interesting stuff, to be sure.

ISO

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Wow! Thanks for the advice. Yes, it seems to be a whole new world out there when it comes to light bulbs.....alot to research.