ballast burn out ? pics !

when my light kicked in earlier the ballast made a few odd noises then smoke a few sparks, i turned it off unscrewed the ballast box to look inside and noticed straight away that where the wires go to this plastic wire conector with wires goin in one side and some comin from the other side of the strip thing that connects wires and onto the cable that runs out the ballast to plug in ya light was all melted at one end, so basicly i think like 6 wires or so go in one side of the plastic wire conectors and about 4 comeout the other side and off to feed the light one end is burned to shit ! ANYONE NO WHAT CAUSES THIS ? its only 8 months old bought brand new, only the cheap type but still cost me £60. do ballast cause fires ? any info will be appreciated guys ! thanx !

pics show where wires have burnt out ! 600 watt hps ballsat 8 months old !

it looks fairly easy to rewire but my concern is what caused it as i dont want a fire and i dont want light failure !

get a lumatek and a 5 year warranty..................

I would get an electronic ballast with a good warranty. I run phantoms and love them.

Your Ballasts should always be mounted to fireproof material,
however much it costs,
things break down.

thanx for ya input lads but would of liked some explanation as to how this happened but eh ! anyhowz live n learn ! lumatek sound cool with a 5 year warrenty n all but how much ?

Looks to me like it could have been a loose connection. If the screws on the terminal block loosened up it will create heat and you can see the result..

Looks like vibration chaffed a wire or loosened a connection! Always inspect your ballast regularly! Check connections, check wires and such! Bsafe

if you decide to rewire it, be careful of the capacitor! its the round thing w/ 2 wires. it holds power even when unplugged & can give a nasty shock.
like already said, vibration probably caused this along w/ high heat from the ballast makes the wires brittle.

been runnin galaxy for bout 5 years now, no problems at all with 5 of em...peace

check out e-bay there are some good deals on ballasts there.

Like it has been said before put it where your grow is in and around fire proof stuff.

By the looks of it if your ballast wasn't where its fire proof your lucky that didn't cause a fire and burn your house down.

You don't need a new ballast.. If you have the skills to do so just replace the terminal strip and make sure the wires aren't to damaged. From the pics it don't look to me like a chaffing issue. People have been running magnetic ballast for decades with out issues and now days most all this stuff is UL or ETL listed. These things are designed to contain a flair up like that or a capacitor failure without burning your house down.

OutlawR6 said:

Looks to me like it could have been a loose connection. If the screws on the terminal block loosened up it will create heat and you can see the result..

Click to expand...

this is exactly what i thought it may be myself but i am no spark so thought i wud ask for advice,, sent the pic to the suplier and he said it was bad, and its only 8 months old also, good enough he said he will replace it with a new line they have, though the one i had buy a company called century he said they do all the street light n shit but whatever he will send a new one out so all good, bought a replacement today for £55 maxi bright from local hydro shop he said if it fails in a year then he will replace it no probs for a brand new one,,,, thanx for ya advice m8 !

Toolage 87 said:

Like it has been said before put it where your grow is in and around fire proof stuff.

By the looks of it if your ballast wasn't where its fire proof your lucky that didn't cause a fire and burn your house down.

Click to expand...

noted loud n clear man ! i will get right on it asap as regards fireproofing the new one i just bought,, didnt think it was a issue man thought just plug n go but evidently not ! just thinkin now what to lag it with,, i wonder if some of the lagging from the loft would do it ? thanx for being blunt man its better safe than sory, cheers !

A digital 600w lumatek with dimmable to 400w (incase wanna upgrade to 600w) on ebay in UK mate inc shipping like £120-125. Get what you pay for.

p.s. I have a maxibright with no issues touch wood! how can we fireproof these babies?

some good input people and some issues addressed that i dident no were issues i.e fire proofing it and checking all screws are tight,, mrmadcow made a good point that capacitors can hold ellectric current even when switched off so that was a good tip ! so all in all thanx for all input and safety pointers, got a maxi bright today for £55 and the suplier of the dodgy one is replacing it with a similar priced one as the broken one so all beit i wont have a top end one but i will have 2 half decent ones, i hope !! peace out peeps n again thanx !

outlawr6 said:

you don't need a new ballast.. If you have the skills to do so just replace the terminal strip and make sure the wires aren't to damaged. From the pics it don't look to me like a chaffing issue. People have been running magnetic ballast for decades with out issues and now days most all this stuff is ul or etl listed. These things are designed to contain a flair up like that or a capacitor failure without burning your house down.

Click to expand...

yeah i hear ya man but just want to be extra carefull and as the suplier will change it no hassle then i thought bolox to it take no chances as to why it happened n just get a new one y i wait for the replacement , then i will av a spare for any future probs,, but it does look easy enough to rewire but like a sed not nowing y it happened hence me buyin a new one !!!!! Thanx for ya input man !