Brand New 150 HPS Flickering Straight Out of The Box

I just purchased a 150HPS light (Floral Lux), plugged it in, and after it came to full brightness I started noticing a very slight flicker here and there. I got close to the ballast to see if I could hear a difference in the humming when it flickers, and I don't. Its a good constant hum/purr from the ballast. So I think the ballast is OK (?)

The bulb is definitely screwed in good.

Anyone else have this problem and found out what the cause was...meaning bulb or ballast, or even the wiring?

I will call the company Monday when they reopen and let them know whats going on. I don't feel safe with it this way. Im sure it is stressing the bulb somehow, which will possibly shorten it's life in the long run.

Can any of you guys shed some light on this? Is this normal? (I doubt it is)

Feedback please

Thanks so much in advance!

prob the ballast

I would let it run for 20-30 minutes and see if the noise continues. If so, then complain to the company.

If your electrical isn't up to par and can't deliver the correct voltage/amps to the ballast/light then it will cause flicker.

But if you don't have the electrical to run a 150 then I'd suggest a new house

What ur explaining happened to me and was my ballast talked to.company.and had 2 new ballast at my door within a week did it do this with ur old bulb

I am thinking this to...thanks

method2mymadness said:

What ur explaining happened to me and was my ballast talked to.company.and had 2 new ballast at my door within a week did it do this with ur old bulb

Click to expand...

This is the first time I have used HPS bulbs...so this is the original (brand new) bulb that came with the light. I will have to get a spare, but at this time I don't have another bulb to test.

Just a little update on this situation. This morning so far it hasn't been flickering at all that I have noticed. Now I'm confused even more. To the best of my knowledge, there is only 3 other items on this circuit...a pc, monitor, and light in the room. I was thinking maybe the circuit was close to being overloaded, but I don't think this is the case.
Guess I'm going to have to keep a close eye on this. Not sure what to do now.

Thanks for the responses...I will keep everyone posted as to what I find out.

oy i bought a 1000 wtt dimable ballast to 600wtt and when i use the 600 wtt setting i get a lil flicker for the first few hours then it goes away. from hortilux and was told that most hps will flicker for the first few hrs and some don't or are visible to the eye.. but they said if it continues to please send it back and they will replace it..

bass1014 said:

oy i bought a 1000 wtt dimable ballast to 600wtt and when i use the 600 wtt setting i get a lil flicker for the first few hours then it goes away. from hortilux and was told that most hps will flicker for the first few hrs and some don't or are visible to the eye.. but they said if it continues to please send it back and they will replace it..

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I still dont know what to do. It has started flickering again. Went about 2 1/2 hours without flickering, now its doing it again, but not as much as last night. (so far)

rollitup said:

I would let it run for 20-30 minutes and see if the noise continues. If so, then complain to the company.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your response. The ballast sounds ok. Even when the light flickers nothing changes with the sound/pitch of the ballast. I called the company this morning and they suggested keeping an eye on it, and trying a different circuit to see if that corrects the problem. I'll give that a try when I return home.
Again thanks for responding and sorry I missed your replay last time I responded to others here.