Ballast started smoking

BenGman

BenGman

Well-Known Member
Hello all, went into abit of shock this morning I woke up made a coffee and checked my girls.. everything looked fine as it usually would, but within minutes smoke was coming from absolutely everywhere and lots of it. I ran into the room and turned off the ballast straight away while inhaling smoke that smelt very electrical. Scary stuff knowing that if it happened an hour earlier god knows what would of happened in the aftermath, I know I was due to get a new set and I shouldn't have put it off but I'm very curious what could of started this?, Just the ballast getting old? Over heated? , Crazy I'm just glad I caught it before I burnt the bloody house down.

As you can see it started at the lighting ignitor and worked it's way down , thanks god it didn't have time to get to the electrical wiring lol.
 

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Bukvičák

Bukvičák

Well-Known Member
BenGman said:
Hello all, went into abit of shock this morning I woke up made a coffee and checked my girls.. everything looked fine as it usually would, but within minutes smoke was coming from absolutely everywhere and lots of it. I ran into the room and turned off the ballast straight away while inhaling smoke that smelt very electrical. Scary stuff knowing that if it happened an hour earlier god knows what would of happened in the aftermath, I know I was due to get a new set and I shouldn't have put it off but I'm very curious what could of started this?, Just the ballast getting old? Over heated? , Crazy I'm just glad I caught it before I burnt the bloody house down.

As you can see it started at the lighting ignitor and worked it's way down , thanks god it didn't have time to get to the electrical wiring lol.
Click to expand...
Sound like you were very lucky...
 
Dreaming1

Dreaming1

Well-Known Member
Are the ballasts magnetic or digital? If old magnetic ones, that is either a melted transformer or a capacitor. The shade(lamp hood?) Should be fine. Just wires between the ballast and the bulb. As long as You Still have electrical continuity, should be fine. This is a fine example of why a smoke detector should be hooked in to cut off power. Also, overvoltage protection after ballast would protect wires and bulb. This could have been a very bad day. Count your blessings.
 
BenGman

BenGman

Well-Known Member
I'm so counting my blessings, I am so lucky to have been able to prevent what could of been, till this day I was abit of a risk taker hoping this sort of thing would never happen to me but it did and could happen to anyone, so please everyone put the safety of you and your family first, or you'll endure a huge wake up call like I did today. This is a big lesson for me today and I should have known better and things could have ended a whole lot worse than it did. And Yes it was a magnetic ballast
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Looks like the ignitor toasted. That is a replaceable component, the capacitor looks a little old too, probably swap them both or just upgrade to a modern ballast.
 
ptrzm

ptrzm

Well-Known Member
Glad to hear you and your family are safe.

For years I've read about grow room fires which not only caused huge damage, but also got the grower caught by police and no doubt invalidated their home insurance, leaving them in financial ruin. Sometimes people died in the fires. Every time there would be HPS bulbs in the photographs.

I know HPS is proven to be extremely effective for growing, and I know digital ballasts are much safer, but in 2020 the heat, high power usage and high current make it an unnecessary risk when LED is a viable alternative.
 
Bukvičák

Bukvičák

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Looks like the ignitor toasted. That is a replaceable component, the capacitor looks a little old too, probably swap them both or just upgrade to a modern ballast.
Click to expand...
Can digital ballast also set himself on fire when some part inside fails or just get broken?
 
firsttimeARE

firsttimeARE

Well-Known Member
They are activated thermally. They have stuff that puts out fires. Sure google knows.

This thread makes me want to get some.

F uck my house. My dog lives there and wouldnt know what to do.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
i had an actual self-activated fire extinguisher that you hung upside down (had that same little piece of glass that a sprinkler does) but it lost it's charge and was un-refillable. i got 2 of those balls in 3x4 to replace it.
 
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