I was in the plant growing shop recently, and I looked at the plug in magnetic ballasts they had.
But on it, there was a switch to switch between Metal Halide and HPS and wondering if this was Probe Start or Pulse Start, I asked the person there to see if it switches the ignitor on and off, and he said that the ballast automatically determines if it is Probe or Pulse Start. And that doesn't make any sense, as this is a standard, "dumb" magnetic ballast that you can just plug the power and fixture cord into.
I would get it if it wasn't $180 for a 400 Watt version. Surprisingly, the electronic Nanolux ballasts were way cheaper.

From your description it sounds like standard HPS gear, thats designed for a twin lamp fitting of both halide and HPS, and the switch just directs the gear feed to whichever lamp is required to be run?

From your description it sounds like standard HPS gear, with a pulse start halide lamp included in the fitting, and the switch just directs the gear feed to each lamp when required?

Well, the question is if it turns off the ignitor or not.
The switch switches between HPS and Metal Halide.

It wouldn`t need to switch the ignitor out as both lamps would need it?

It wouldn`t need to switch the ignitor out as both lamps would need it?

I thought that too.

The switch most likely change taps on the ballast, one suitable for 400W HPS and one 400W MH (atleast here, the 400W Pulse Start MH seem to follow the 400W Mercury spec, not the HPS spec like the 250W and below)

The ignotor is there either all the time (so only for Pulse Start MH), or switched on/off by the switch as well

My guess is, since for most of the world except the US "MH" means by default "Pulse Start MH", and grow lights/lamps for them are among the more generic products shipped from China, i'd expect that by MH they mean Pulse MH lamp. I'd assume they sell the lamp itself too, and its the same Pulse lamp for distribution all over the world, and only change the ballast for sales in 120V or 230V regions

I was editing my other post when you replied! , what I was thinking was, would it have been a gear box for a twin MH/HPS lamp fixture?

The switch most likely change taps on the ballast, one suitable for 400W HPS and one 400W MH (atleast here, the 400W Pulse Start MH seem to follow the 400W Mercury spec, not the HPS spec like the 250W and below)

The ignotor is there either all the time (so only for Pulse Start MH), or switched on/off by the switch as well

My guess is, since for most of the world except the US "MH" means by default "Pulse Start MH", and grow lights/lamps for them are among the more generic products shipped from China, i'd expect that by MH they mean Pulse MH lamp. I'd assume they sell the lamp itself too, and its the same Pulse lamp for distribution all over the world, and only change the ballast for sales in 120V or 230V regions

For some reason, they all seem to work with Probe Start lamps, not Pulse Start, but that's at least only for my Lumatek ballast, and that's an entirely different topic.

You can power on a Probe lamp on a Pulse ballast, except you might blow the probe on the lamp in a hot restart, and occasionally burn up the lamp completely

You can power on a Probe lamp on a Pulse ballast, except you might blow the probe on the lamp in a hot restart, and occasionally burn up the lamp completely

So this magnetic ballast is likely changing taps. I probably won't get it, because of the high price.

In the UK MH lamps with a starting probe are known as `Euro` lamps, these are designed to run on mercury gear.
The pulse start, (without probe), are all designed for HPS gear, although Thorn made a halide lamp that had a starting probe, that ran on BOTH sets of gear, the MBIF lamp.

In the UK MH lamps with a starting probe are known as `Euro` lamps, these are designed to run on mercury gear.
The pulse start, (without probe), are all designed for HPS gear, although Thorn made a halide lamp that had a starting probe, that ran on BOTH sets of gear, the MBIF lamp.

Where can I get it?

Their made by GE now, but Venture make a duel version, for MV/HPS now I believe?
The Venture ones will be easier to get hold of on line.

Their made by GE now, but Venture make a duel version, for MV/HPS now I believe?
The Venture ones will be easier to get hold of on line.

I haven't found any sites that sell them. Are they MV > HPS conversion bulbs?

Philips HPI-T 250W and 400W can also operates on MV and HPS ballasts. Example of european pulse-start MH lamps for MV ballast are GE Kolorarc and Tungsram HgMIF and old Osram HQI-T/DV/DH, 250W and above. Osram HQI-T/D and HQI-BT/D, GE Arcstream, Venture Whitlux, as well as Philips HPI-T 250-400W, are for HPS ballasts. Generally all european pulse-start MH lamps up to 150W, are for HPS ballasts only, 250W and above, there are models for MV ballasts and models for HPS ballasts or both of them (In the case of Philips HPI-T 250-400W).
In the US, "Metal Halide" means probe-start. Anywhere else in the world it means pulse-start.
It is impossible to build a ballast that accept both probe-start MH lamps and HPS lamps, as the latter requires ignitors and HX ballasts (The lamp voltage rising during life isn't so good for CWA ballasts) and the formers don't requires ignitors on their CWA ballasts, also probe-starts have completely different lamp voltage and current than HPS lamps compared to pulse-start MH lamps.