A warning on ipower ballast

I had a 400w ipower I bought just for clones and my small plants back in February, yesterday I walked in to my grow room and it was full of smoke and smelled like an electrical fire. Scared the absolute shit outta me lol after searching I came to find the ballast is what stunk and was blowing smoke everywhere, the little fans keep them cool but when it caught fire they also help blow smoke every mother fuckin where. Had I not been home it probably would have resulted in my neighbors calling the fire department and my setup no longer being a secret. Thank god I was home, but I figured I would put the word out around here just so people know. Those fans pull in a lot of dust that doesn't clean easy and will result in a fire. Just my experience lol and I'm just glad it wasn't my big lights.

wow close call buddy bet ya arse hole was twitching like a bitch lol, but aye glad u was home m8 this heat wave dont help things either. (goes and checks ballasts) lol

Oh you bet it was lol. What blew me away was even with the fire and the smoke the light was still on!

Electrical failures on components are rare for certified quality assured and tested ballasts, the ballast did not catch fire from operating in a 80 degree room, I would suspect its normal operating temps on the components probably exceed your ambient temperature by 5-10 degrees as per normal operating standards, try going to http://www.ipowergrowlight.com/warranty/ to register your product, also view https://spreadsheets1.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dDIyY0x0VWZlaGRkay1oTmJkbU5IV2c6MQ to view RMA form, ipower ballasts have 2 year manufacturer warranty.

Customer Service at (626)756-4797 and ask for warranty department or
[email protected] for contacts. I think the RMA submission forum would be enough to have the product replaced, as I mentioned certified ballasts designs generally undergo underwriters laboratory tests, (cycle and duration tests to determine life of components, failure rates ect). I've seen this happen with a few different brands, I wouldn't expect the product to catch fire under any normal circumstances.

scary and i was on ebay and noticed an ipower 400wat full kit.... i wont even bother looking next time,,, i hope ur ladies didnt get affected by the smoke. first that smell is shit and it stinks for a few days, and the smoke can settle on the leaves causing burn if left.......

its cause they build them, then fill them full of epoxy so you cant repair or see the internal components-
they suck..period-
never waste your money on an Ipower-

Big Sky said:

its cause they build them, then fill them full of epoxy so you cant repair or see the internal components-
they suck..period-
never waste your money on an Ipower-

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You void the warranty on any ballast by opening its case, and no if the fire was caused by "them building, then filling with epoxy" you would see alot of ballasts catching fire, this is general logical assumption; you do realize how many have sold with no feedback issues, taken for what its worth plus the 2 year warranty, and lack of peoples houses catching on fire, I wouldn't really pass them under any other same designed ballast, have you noticed many of the other brands are built in the same country and using the same basic designs on the ballast case, short of buying hortilux which is made in usa, your not going to beable to pass ipower under lumatek or the other chinese manufactured ballasts, I've yet to try hortilux myself but htg and ipower are about the same quality, not extremely cheap but not top of the line by any means. Ive seen plenty of grows under those lights mentioned as well, I'm sure you would see more fire reports if it was an issue.

homegrowerZA said:

scary and i was on ebay and noticed an ipower 400wat full kit.... i wont even bother looking next time,,, i hope ur ladies didnt get affected by the smoke. first that smell is shit and it stinks for a few days, and the smoke can settle on the leaves causing burn if left.......

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Don't bother looking on ebay much at all then, might as well pay 600 for the 1000w hortilux, there is plenty of retailers outside ebay that sell different brands then the lumatek/ipower 100$ 400w ones, although generally going to cost you 2x more. You get what you pay for.

I know its not a standard run of the mill thing for them to catch fire it blew me away at the amount of smoke it was producing but up until that point it had ran great. I contacted ipower through email on their website and have yet to hear anything but it hasn't been very long. I was pleased enough with the light for the price up until this point and through hundreds of reviews there where less than a handful or reports that I saw of them burning up. I'm just looking to have it replaced with another ballast everything else is still good. hopefully this goes well lol

A smoke detector might be a prudent addition to anyone's grow room. I have them all over the house but none in the grow room itself. I think I'll add one there. At the very least, a fire could bring all sorts of unwanted attention, at worst - you're dead.

Glad you're ok, Bluegrassgrower & thanks for the timely post. Hope your plants are none the worse for it.

all grow room equipment can become dangerous if not handled properly and electics must be same because so much power goes in to a grow just wanted to say this some ppl just dont realise. thats also a key point to keeping your grow room clean n white less dust that way to build up on ya shit and cause extra issues for ya self when really u dont need that shit lol

Peace stay safe (takes high vis safety patrol vest of) haha

Bluegrassgrower said:

I know its not a standard run of the mill thing for them to catch fire it blew me away at the amount of smoke it was producing but up until that point it had ran great. I contacted ipower through email on their website and have yet to hear anything but it hasn't been very long. I was pleased enough with the light for the price up until this point and through hundreds of reviews there where less than a handful or reports that I saw of them burning up. I'm just looking to have it replaced with another ballast everything else is still good. hopefully this goes well lol

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Well worst case scenario if you don't want to use that brand anymore, do a return merchandise authorization form linked on their site , this is what the responding email support in all likeliness will ask you to do anyway, then they will approve the rma and notify you of place to ship the ballast if they want it back for observation, or just notify you of new ballast in mail and tracking number ect. You could always resell it on ebay where you got it as new, if you don't open the replacement, and opt for different brand if that suits your desire.

At bottom of site, click "RMA Form", and fill that out to save yourself the time of waiting for a reply only.

what he said ^^ lol

Damn that is scary, im sure it doesnt happen often, but i know with electronics you can achieve the same thing with many different electronic component configurations. I know with electronics *most* of the time you get what you pay for ( i work in this industry). Now im thinking this applies to electronic ballasts also (for clarification im talking about digital not magnetic ballast for all the smart asses out there!)

I was going to get one of these bc of the $$ but after reading this im thinking about just spending a few extra to get a very reputable trusted brand and model. bc that would so awful, a life ruiner.

their hoods are great and cheap! $50 or $60 for a cool tube! in which i love.

Apollo ballast run super cool with those built in fans they have

mrblu said:

Apollo ballast run super cool with those built in fans they have

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Agreed! I have 3 of them and they all run great. I have a 400 in flower, a 400 dimmed 50% in veg, and a 600 that is used in flower during the cooler times of the year.

Note: I know, i dont NEED 3, but I WANT 3!!! Like to be prepared if one goes down (hasnt happened yet) and for the price, EVERYONE should have 3 of em!!!

Bluegrassgrower said:

Oh you bet it was lol. What blew me away was even with the fire and the smoke the light was still on!

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hell yea, you can't fuck with good quality chinese engineering.

My hydro store carries these flame defenders.... can get them online. the big one is like $150 I think. Pretty cheap insurance.

I have 2 Ipowers I picked up and it is like they will only work on 240. I plugged it in to test and it blew the circuit.