Hi Soulfire,

Well, I've never used that kind of light but I'm thinking that the plug in your picture must be made to plug into a ballast. Is your 400W bulb a high pressure sodium bulb? If so, I think it requires the use of a ballast. The HydroFarm BAASP plug adapter you mentioned adapts HydroFarm reflectors to other brand ballasts.

Hope this helps,

Art

This post was edited by art33 on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 10:30

Great info, thanx. I definitely need the ballast & I've checked into them. Now I have what is a really basic question--- I now know the Hydrofarm reflector plugs into the ballast. But does a ballast plug directly into a house outlet? Or is there yet another thing I didn't consider?

I'm specifically looking at a Phantom 600W ballast.

This post was edited by Soulfire on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 19:39

Soulfire,

As I mentioned earlier, I've never really used that type of light but I think most ballast can be used with 120 or 240 volts. The ballast should plug directly into the source voltage. So, unless you specify differently, I'd assume the plug would be for normal 120 volts and plug directly into your house outlets.

Art

This post was edited by art33 on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 20:00

You can get a cheap ballast for $85 on Amazon. It's even dimmable.
http://amzn.com/B0052ACH0E

I use the Hydrofarm Phantom

I bought the 600w version and use it mostly at 400watts but I wanted the possibility of more light if I needed it.

Thanks Art!

stevemac00- Do you use a 400W bulb in it? I know the site says that you can't but I'm a bit skeptical.

I'm not sure of the rationale except the bulb might be cheaper but wouldn't that savings would be gained in longevity in the higher rated bulb?

My ballast can't do that anyway as the ballast needs to bring the light up at full strength to heat the gases then it backs down to less power. This seems smart to me but I have no scientific basis for that opinion.