Grow Light Ballasts:

Grow light ballasts are needed to operate high intensity discharge (HID) lights like metal halide and high pressure sodium. Ballasts change the voltage of your electricity to a specific level to power up and operate HID lights. Each ballast is designed for a specific wattage, and only that wattage (e.g. 1000 watt, 600 watt, etc.). A 1000 watt ballast cannot be used to power a 400 watt bulb.

There are several types of grow light ballasts to choose from. Digital ballasts can typically power both metal halide and high pressure sodium bulbs, unless otherwise specified. They also produce less heat and weigh less than other types of ballasts. These advantages make digital ballasts a good choice, but are often more expensive as well. There are also magnetic ballasts which can usually power metal halide and high pressure sodium bulbs as well (one at a time), and are a cheaper alternative to digital ballasts. There are also dimmable ballasts which allow the user to run the ballast at different power levels. Some dimmable ballasts even allow the user to run them at different wattages like 1000 watt and 600 watt off the same ballast.

If you wish to run metal halide or high pressure sodium lighting systems, you must have a grow light ballast to operate them. We recommend digital ballasts because of the advantages they have over the other types.