I am interested in buying a metal halide lamp and an appropriate ballast to run it. I don't have much experience with HID, so I'm asking for some advice on getting started and what is a good price to pay on a MH bulb and and ballast.  I'm looking for a basic setup that I can work with. 

Thanks,

Camden

I would start with a fixture, such as a cobrahead or bucket light.

I'd first select a wattage and lamp. Probably on eBay. If you're going to use it indoors, consider the high CRI CDM lamps. To start, I'd get a 50W or 70W protected lamp in ED17 shape. I insist on a protected lamp, but others on here, not so much so you decide... You might find some sellers refer to this as open-rated lamps.

Then you need a pulse rated medium lamp holder, also available on eBay. Same comment as protected lamps, others don't use pulse rated, but avoid plastic at all costs.

Finally, a ballast. The easiest ballasts to wire up are either electronic or F-can. They can be expensive, though. Otherwise, you're looking for a 'ballast kit' that has ballast, capacitor and ignitor all included and usually all wired up with labeled leads.

Your ballast will get hot, and some core-and-coil ballasts are not completely electrically isolated so it should be run in a metal enclosure. Electronic and F-can can be run in the open but be careful about placing them too close to materials that entrap heat.

If you go magnetic and you put the ballast in an enclosure, you will want to fasten it there with screws or bolts otherwise it will probably vibrate and make A LOT of noise. Normally functioning ballasts of these wattages are usually very silent when properly fastened to something.

Hope this helps. If you have other questions, please ask.

I'm assuming you want to build your own fixture.

If you have the right materials with it, then yeah, then you could build your own light fixture. 

If you have the right materials with it, then yeah, then you could build your own light fixture. 

I usually build all mine from scrap materials, all it takes is a bit of trial and error, The first metal halide light i ever had was a 400W, But i'd imagine that being a bit too large for what you're doing with it, A 175W one may prove to be sufficient, That is the wattage i used for my first "Room Lamp" before i converted it to MV. http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=4640&pos=39&pid=135089

Oh ok, I was thinking in general. But yeah, I guess you made your point.

Thank you all for your help!  I'm thinking of starting out really rudimentary, like in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hssa0MY2lho

Of course, I would probably choose to use a lamp thats 400 watts or less to start with.  Eventually, I might buy a real fixture or build my own.  I'm more interested in having the basic equipment to run the MH lamp for demo purposes.  I would definitely like to have a MH fixture outside my house someday.

Thank you all for your help!  I'm thinking of starting out really rudimentary, like in this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hssa0MY2lho

If that's what you're after, then you need a metal halide high bay or low bay fixture, and you would run it upside down without the reflector/refractor assembly. That's what they use in the video. Problem is most of these are either 400W or 1000W, some are 250W, though. Finding in 175W or lower is very uncommon, but not unheard of.