New digital ballast making high pitch noise?!?

[pornstache]

Anyone had an issue where a new ballast is making a high pitch noise whenever a bulb is lit?

It is a 1000w digital which can be switched between 400, 420, 600, 630, 1000, etc. and the built in odometer confirms that it is in fact new. It is from one of the major manufacturers, not some chinese knockoff POS.

The noise happens at all wattage settings, and with multiple wattage MH and HPS bulbs that work fine on another ballast from the same manufacturer.

The noise sometimes alternates between pitches, but can be heard from across the room. My other ballast only puts off a quiet buzz sound that can only be heard when you get close to it.

Any thoughts?

 

[BAMS]

is it fan cooled?

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

Is it running on 110v or 220v and what is the brand.

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

Sounds like the solis tek matrix ballast.

 

[ttystikk]

Lol a ballast should not be making a lot of noise.

 

[dadio161]

I would see about sending it back while still under warranty.

 

[nomofatum]

Unless it's a common complaint in reviews and they don't blow up in a short period of time, return it now. You likely have a component that will be failing. Defective.

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

Every single one of my solis tek ballast did that the first few days. Then it stoped. It was especially loud when running on 110v.

 

[spek9]

Who cares if/what/when/why. Get the manufacturer or the shop you bought it from to replace it.

-spek

 

[spek9]

ps and btw, if you question a new ballast (or any equipment), there's probably something wrong (even as a newb). Don't second guess... use the warranty (then report back here so we can validate manufacturers).

Welcome to RIU

-spek

 

[pornstache]

110, no fan.

Main concern is whether there would be any reason the 1000w model would make this loud high pitched noise while the 600w model does not (both actually running a 600w bulb, just not running the 1000w at max capacity)

I would rather not mention the model, I am very happy with my 600w and don't want to possibly damage the reputation of the manufacturer over one bad unit.

Ill see if I can upload some audio. Carolina can you describe the sound yours made? I really don't want to risk damaging my bulbs if there's any possibility its bad.

Thanks everyone for the insights thus far!

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

The damn thing sounded like it was gonna make the bulb explode. High pitch nose that seemed to get louder then fade away within a cpl minutes. I turned it off and called solis tek, they said it was fine, and also said it was abnormally loud when using a new ballast and bulb. His explanation in laymen terms was ballast use the same frequency as some household items. It was on the same frequency as the cable or internet making the loud pitch noise, until the ballast notices and switches to a similar frequency. I trusted them and plugged back up, the next day or two it went away.

 

[BAMS]

110, no fan.

Main concern is whether there would be any reason the 1000w model would make this loud high pitched noise while the 600w model does not (both actually running a 600w bulb, just not running the 1000w at max capacity)

I would rather not mention the model, I am very happy with my 600w and don't want to possibly damage the reputation of the manufacturer over one bad unit.

Ill see if I can upload some audio. Carolina can you describe the sound yours made? I really don't want to risk damaging my bulbs if there's any possibility its bad.

Thanks everyone for the insights thus far!

so your running a 600w bulb in a 1000w ballast? correct me if I am wrong, but those numbers don't match up

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

so your running a 600w bulb in a 1000w ballast? correct me if I am wrong, but those numbers don't match up

Probably a newer model ballast that let's you choose your watts. My solis tek matrix can do a 400w,600w or 1000w. Hps or mh.
You can use the solis boost for an extra 5% giving you the 420, 630 and 1050w settings.

 

[pornstache]

If the 600 had made any similar noise I might be inclined to think it was normal, but even brand new, the 600 was almost silent except for the quiet buzz. They were both plugged into the exact same outlet at the same time as well.

Heres the audio of what its doing...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BykaoJ5vNQ8zRi1IWU5yVFRzN1E/view?usp=sharing

you might have to turn your volume up a little.

Correct its the kind you can set the wattage to match your bulb. My other ballast is too except it maxes out at 600 instead of 1000

 

[silusbotwin]

Every single one of my solis tek ballast did that the first few days. Then it stoped. It was especially loud when running on 110v.

Same goes for all six of my 1000 watt Digilux Nano's. After a couple days they stopped squealing and run absolutely quiet now.

 

[BAMS]

Probably a newer model ballast that let's you choose your watts. My solis tek matrix can do a 400w,600w or 1000w. Hps or mh.
You can use the solis boost for an extra 5% giving you the 420, 630 and 1050w settings.

I am a magnetic core ballast person as my grow area can tolerate the heat and I don't see the $$ payoff in less than 3 years by the actual energy saved from the digital units vs the cost of the units themselves. Plus I have done a bit of monitoring and seems you get a longer life from Magnetic with the ability of a DIY repair job if they do fail. Only bonus I see from digital is that the Solid State is able to drive both MH and HPS, but being I veg under LED, MH is rather obselete for me.

So in conclusion I was under the impression that the dial downs were for the intensity, not actually different bulb....ie 1000watt ballast can a 1000 watt bulb at 600 watt intensity etc etc etc....or was that the old school of digital ballast?

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

I am a magnetic core ballast person as my grow area can tolerate the heat and I don't see the $$ payoff in less than 3 years by the actual energy saved from the digital units vs the cost of the units themselves. Plus I have done a bit of monitoring and seems you get a longer life from Magnetic with the ability of a DIY repair job if they do fail. Only bonus I see from digital is that the Solid State is able to drive both MH and HPS, but being I veg under LED, MH is rather obselete for me.

So in conclusion I was under the impression that the dial downs were for the intensity, not actually different bulb....ie 1000watt ballast can a 1000 watt bulb at 600 watt intensity etc etc etc....or was that the old school of digital ballast?

Yea the dial down is old technology and bad technology at that.

Digital ballast are worth the money if you run them on 220v. None of my ballast, are hot. Not even warm to the touch on 220. On 110, whole different story. They run hot as hell, just another way to prove 110v is inferior power supply.
I rarely see anything over 4 lights running on magnetic.

 

[BAMS]

good to know the new tech....im on 240v mains in Australia, but as I said in earlier post I can't justify the cost......magnetic 600w ballast = $89-$100 (rebuildable) vs Digital 600w (decent brand, lumatek, solistek, gavita) = $200-$350 (gavita all in one unit $550+)

so with their claimed power saving efficiency, and the cost of my electricity ($ per Kw/h), it would take me 3 years to pay off the cost difference of a digital ballast, and also like I said, I have enough fresh air transfer and the AC running that I don't see much of a temp difference being both my magnetics are mounted up high next to the carbon scrubber

 

[BAMS]

I apologize, I didn't mean to hijack this thread, but when I saw a 600 bulb in a 1000 watt ballast, I was sort of seeing a problem being I am still on old school ballast knowledge