I have a 70W HPS, and I want to see it working but I don't have the gear because it is too expensive. What is the best replacement, a resistive load, a fluorescent ballast or motor, and then what could I use as ignitor? What are the best options for the short and long term?

You're on 220-240V, right..? I could probably find you a 70W ballast, does the lamp have an internal ignitor or do you need one of those as well..? 

Yes, I'm on 220V 50Hz. Here's a picture of the lamp, it is a normal SON-T bulb without internal ignition. I wonder if I can use my 40W fan and a fluorescent starter. I don't want to experiment yet because I don't want anything to blow up. I think a motor should work, I'm not sure about resistive loads like incandescent bulbs or kettles. 

I'm considering to light it up using a fluorescent flashlight circuit, just for see the auxiliary gasses lighting up.

Yes that looks fairly standard, a normal choke ballast will work for that, you'll need a proper ignitor though, these things need a few kV to get going 

I'm pretty sure I have a spare ballast somewhere, I definitely know where there's an ignitor that will work. Let me know if you're struggling. Lamp specs are around 0.98A at 90V

I think two 36W fluorescent ballasts in parallel would work, and a fluorescent starter in parallel with the lamp should make the enough KV to strike the lamp. I think 2W extra on the ballast or the lamp shouldn't be a big problem, so I'll experiment a bit with that setup, and I hope not to blow up something in the process. 

Well best of luck, don't blow yourself up, will you, it takes ages to get bloodstains off the walls 

Well best of luck, don't blow yourself up, will you, it takes ages to get bloodstains off the walls 

Can confirm, had a non electrical related accident as a kid that got blood everywhere, from my dad's testimony its very hard to clean,

Edit: ask worldwide lighting collector if such a setup would work, he experiments with that sort of thing all the time.

Can confirm, had a non electrical related accident as a kid that got blood everywhere, from my dad's testimony its very hard to clean

Not only that, the cops always find it... erm.... 

Not only that, the cops always find it... erm.... 

Ok what did you do now? Did louie do it?

Ok what did you do now? Did louie do it?

You've certainly got him sussed

Ok what did you do now? Did louie do it?

I sent the first chapter of Space Munky to an author we have got to know, and included a picture of Louie.
His response was that as a crime writer, he knew a dodgy character when he saw one. 

Well, I did the experiment, and no explosion at all. 

That's the setup I made. First made it in a nice wood piece for make it look like a testing rig. I connected two chokes in parallel in series with the lamp socket without the starter, I screwed a 28W halogen bulb to see how much the ballast heat and no heat at all; then I screwed a 70W halogen bulb to simulate the HPS load and barely any heat, although the run time was a few seconds. Then I decided to screw the HPS and I ran it up with a single choke and no starter; the lamp didn't light up. Then I connected the other choke back and nothing yet. Then I connected an 80W starter in parallel to the lamp so every time it closes shorts the ballasts to mains; the starter flashed a few times but seems like it wasn't happy because there were blue flashes, but the HPS did light up for a tiny fraction of a second, so it wanted to strike. Then I removed the starter capacitor and it didn't strike anymore.

tl;dr. It didn't work, but it wanted though. There's something in the setup that I need to tweak in order to make it work.

BTW here's a picture of the test rig.

Very neat rig, shame it didn't work 

I think you need a proper 3-wire ignitor, as I said I have one somewhere, also the correct ballast, let me know.

As SOX35 says, a Superimposed pulse ignitor provides more reliable ignition than a fluorescent starter since these ignitors are designed for HPS lamps due to their high voltage pulses. In addition, you might add a 13w PL-C choke to your paralleled F36 chokes to help drive your lamp to its proper current since 2 F36 chokes in parallel run the lamp at up to roughly 0.86a and this lamp needs at least 1.0a to operate. Since a 13w PL-C choke is designed for a roughly 0.17a lamp current, adding this choke would run your HPS lamp only slightly above its rated current at a total of about 1.03a.

I found this HID ignitor at Mercadolibre Chile at a very accessible item+shipping price, so I'll probably buy it.

@WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA will it work if I keep using the 2x 36W chokes but with a proper ignitor? Will an 18W ballast work instead of a 13W one as an extra?

If I don't manage to get the ignitor what would be the best replacement?