I'm just curious to know if it's a good idea to run a MV lamp on a HPS ballast.

What wattage lamp and ballast are you looking at running ? and is it a test just to see if it works ?

If u using American HPS ballast
For low wattage MV.  It will be a
Very bad mismatch 35 to 150 watt S55
Hps ballast is around 55 arc volts


The S56 150 watt ballast will power
150 watt pulse start MH as well
Just need take ignitor out to run 175
Watt MV.

Now EU Ballast is bit different cause they design HPS And MH to run on same wattage ballast. There u can use the MH  ballast guideline to run MV lamps

35 watt will run 50 watt MV
50 watt runs 75 watt MV
70 watt runs 100 watt Mv
150 watt runs 175 watt mv

I have 2 lamps, one 100w and one 175w.

Will doing so have long term effects on the lamp and/or ballast?

 It just going to warm up and not  stay lit

 None  of MV lamp will run right on American HPS gear


 100 warr HPS is 55 arc volt
 100! Watt MV  is 130 arc volt

Meaning it wont  warm up also u can ruin MV lamp
  Using the ignitor from HPS

 S55  150 watt hps is 55 arc volt
 S56  150  watt hps is 100 arc volt

The 175 watt MV wont run up on S55 HPS gear
Same for ignitor killing the starting probe on MV
Lamp.

The S56  HPS  is  technically a MH  ballast  relabel
As S56 ballast to gave a steeper price mark up
For such uncommon rare S56 HPS lamp here
In North America

U do much better running  those MV lamp on MH  ballast
With ignitor removed .  Those low wattage (35w to 150) MH is base  Off from European lamp Standards

And u can run Euoropean HPS our MH gear too

100 watt MV can fo well on 70 watt MH ballast
175 watt MV  works wel on  150 watt MH ballast
 Both need ignitor remove from circuit

For 250w and above, it will be fine. 150w and under won't run a merc without cycling because of the lower OCV.

I've had 400W Mercury lamps cycle on 400W High Pressure Sodium gear aswell..

I'm always curious as to why someone would want to do this. It is always best to run a discharge lamp on the correct ballast. Otherwise you risk damage to either or both.

I only wanted to know if it was a good idea to run a MV on a HPs. The reason being i've seen multiple people do it but they would never say if it was a good idea.

I only wanted to know if it was a good idea to run a MV on a HPs. The reason being i've seen multiple people do it but they would never say if it was a good idea.

I know some people do it if they can't get the correct ballast, but I for one would prefer to leave the lamp unlit rather than risk it on the wrong one, especially if the lamp is a rare or otherwise hard to get one.