Broken Ballast?

malester

malester

Well-Known Member
Hi, have a grow closet, flowering 3 plants to determine sex. But my light is messed. Its a 1000w HPS 120v. When its on it stays on for about 7 minutes, and then the light shuts off, the ballast still hums and the light u can see the metal still a little orange and after 2 minutes it suddenly turns back on to the white light stage and gets brighter to the bright orange and constantly repeats. I was using it for 2 weeks fine and it just started doing it. No warranty. I cant afford a new 1 since it took me over 3 months to pay for this 1. any ideas how to fix it and or are the plants getting enough light to continue flowering with the light turning on and off, if the plants are still getting enough light than thats fine and I can buy another my next crop. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If needed I can record it on my crappy dark cam, just lemme know if u need a visual look.

TY.
 
000420

000420

terpenophenolic
Is this newer,System? sounds like the bulb, but the ballast also may not be getting proper line voltage.If the starter was bad it wouldn't fire up at all same with transformer, I'm sure your capacitor is fine from your description.So either new bulb or check your line votage.
 
S

SadbutTrue

Member
I know this is pretty late but did you guys figure out what was wrong. I have a lightg (same model I believe) doing the exact same thing... initially I figured it was the ballast, but could see it being the light now too. Appreciate whatever you could tell me.. thanks!
 
fabfun

fabfun

New Member
if i have a voltage meter unscrew bulb and plug in ballast then touch one lead to center contact in socket and other lead to metal contact on side of socket but be very careful not to touch leads then label on ballast will say what your open voltage should be. I f your reading on meter dont match ballast is going bad
 
S

SadbutTrue

Member
fabfun said:
if i have a voltage meter unscrew bulb and plug in ballast then touch one lead to center contact in socket and other lead to metal contact on side of socket but be very careful not to touch leads then label on ballast will say what your open voltage should be. I f your reading on meter dont match ballast is going bad
Click to expand...
You're just talking the sockets in the bulb housing? Okay, will try when I get home.
 
fabfun

fabfun

New Member
yes im talking about the mogul socket where the bulb screws in but let me repeat BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO TOUCH LEADS OR U WILL NOT LIKE IT lol

SadbutTrue said:
You're just talking the sockets in the bulb housing? Okay, will try when I get home.
Click to expand...
 
S

SadbutTrue

Member
Its a hydrofarm brand grow light, 600w hps. I did plug it in yesterday to its own outlet and it did the same thing. Did not seem to be getting very hot.

Also checked the bulb connection...it was pretty tight and no corrosion evident.
 
fabfun

fabfun

New Member
did u two get it figured out
when a ballast goes bad it will put out only what u put in
hooked to 120 it will put out 120 and wont put out the open voltage so it is almost like hooking light straight to wall socket with no ballast
or it will fire bulb but wont reach full voltage untill it wont even fire bulb had one do that to me so u got to hook up and test mogul socket to see what the open voltage of ballast output is
 
S

SadbutTrue

Member
Could it simply be that the ballast isn't sufficient?

I tried to check the voltage on the ballast and my multimeter stopped working (measured from ground to hot wie on ballast output). Took 3 measurements but itwas arcing (didn't have time to get a steady reading) so I didn't want to finish in the house. Took it to the shed where everything is and the multimeter wouldn't even power back on... guess I broke it (though the voltaeg was set on the 750v setting and I followed the directions). D'oh.

That said, a few people have suggested that my symptoms are something id probably see since I'm using a 600w ballast ona 1000 light.. sound right?
 
fabfun

fabfun

New Member
well you kind of forgot to add that detail bulb will still fire but not as bright i would imagine

did u check your batteries on meter
also inside most meters is a fuse check it and if that fails borrow one from neighbor

do this the 2 wires that go to your mogul socket (part bulb screws into) put your one test lead on each wire and it should read what your open voltage is it will be on label of ballast but if not u should be getting at least 500 volts i would think if not ballast is bad

I dont run unmatched wattage systems too much can go wrong and it can be unsafe and if equipment is under warranty it will void warranty

SadbutTrue said:
Could it simply be that the ballast isn't sufficient?

I tried to check the voltage on the ballast and my multimeter stopped working (measured from ground to hot wie on ballast output). Took 3 measurements but itwas arcing (didn't have time to get a steady reading) so I didn't want to finish in the house. Took it to the shed where everything is and the multimeter wouldn't even power back on... guess I broke it (though the voltaeg was set on the 750v setting and I followed the directions). D'oh.

That said, a few people have suggested that my symptoms are something id probably see since I'm using a 600w ballast ona 1000 light.. sound right?
Click to expand...
 
N

NewClosetGrower

Well-Known Member
throw your multimeter away and go buy a Fluke brand, mine has a clamp at the top i can put around a cable and without even touching it, it will tell me the voltage, and amperage running through it, 130 bucks...second, i dont know shit about HID lights, but i am however an electrician and I do know that those lights require a certain ballast to operate a certain bulb...if you were using a 1000W bulb on a 600W ballast, you probably just fried the bulb. Im suprised it even worked for as long as it did. it is possible that you fried the ballast by using the 1000W bulb buy i doubt it...get another bulb and see what happens..then let us know, i will subscribe.
 
fabfun

fabfun

New Member
them fluke testers are as much as a new ballast but u need one everyday so its good for u to have .

and i doubt he fried the bulb now if he hooked a 1000w ballast to a 600 watt bulb it will fry the bulb and i doubt it fried the ballast a 100 wat bulb is not going to draw but a little less the 600 watt i think bulb just went bad could be due to more strain on it from olny getting 600w they use more in the start up but now that u mention u might be right it could be putting strain on ballast causing it to run hot or a strain on the bulb trying to fire with just 600 so we may be both right glad we agree NG

But u need to get your tester working or borrow or buy one it doesnt have to be exspensive unless u use it alot and u need to test your ballast in the method i suggested only way to tell with out buying a new bulb and if bulb or ballast or both r shot get the right equipment next time

do you agree NG

NewClosetGrower said:
throw your multimeter away and go buy a Fluke brand, mine has a clamp at the top i can put around a cable and without even touching it, it will tell me the voltage, and amperage running through it, 130 bucks...second, i dont know shit about HID lights, but i am however an electrician and I do know that those lights require a certain ballast to operate a certain bulb...if you were using a 1000W bulb on a 600W ballast, you probably just fried the bulb. Im suprised it even worked for as long as it did. it is possible that you fried the ballast by using the 1000W bulb buy i doubt it...get another bulb and see what happens..then let us know, i will subscribe.
Click to expand...
 
Spanishfly

Spanishfly

Well-Known Member
SadbutTrue said:
Could it simply be that the ballast isn't sufficient?

That said, a few people have suggested that my symptoms are something id probably see since I'm using a 600w ballast ona 1000 light.. sound right?
Click to expand...
You sort of left out that slightly important detail. Now your solution is obvious.
 
N

NewClosetGrower

Well-Known Member
yeah bro i agree, i mean...i highly doubt he "fried" the bulb, but you never know dude weird things happen especially with high intensity devices. the bulb very well could have went bad due to the whole experience thats why i told him to get a new one, oh and buy the right wattage this time bro, lol...because that is obviously the cheapest way to start...you can kill something just as easy by under powering it then over powering it...you can buy a 10 dollar tester that read 120v and 240v at lowes...or even get the 20 dollar pack with the digital volt meter, tick stick, and plug tester at lowes...good luck bro

fabfun said:
them fluke testers are as much as a new ballast but u need one everyday so its good for u to have .

and i doubt he fried the bulb now if he hooked a 1000w ballast to a 600 watt bulb it will fry the bulb and i doubt it fried the ballast a 100 wat bulb is not going to draw but a little less the 600 watt i think bulb just went bad could be due to more strain on it from olny getting 600w they use more in the start up but now that u mention u might be right it could be putting strain on ballast causing it to run hot or a strain on the bulb trying to fire with just 600 so we may be both right glad we agree NG

But u need to get your tester working or borrow or buy one it doesnt have to be exspensive unless u use it alot and u need to test your ballast in the method i suggested only way to tell with out buying a new bulb and if bulb or ballast or both r shot get the right equipment next time

do you agree NG
Click to expand...
 
fabfun

fabfun

New Member
well op there u go now u got a game plane test ballast and if ballast puts out almost 600w then go buy u a 600 watt bulb but if ballast is bad then get a 1000 watt ballast and try old bulb but if it was me i would get new bulb but until u test we r just guess
and when u find out the problem let us know what was burned out

NewClosetGrower said:
yeah bro i agree, i mean...i highly doubt he "fried" the bulb, but you never know dude weird things happen especially with high intensity devices. the bulb very well could have went bad due to the whole experience thats why i told him to get a new one, oh and buy the right wattage this time bro, lol...because that is obviously the cheapest way to start...you can kill something just as easy by under powering it then over powering it...you can buy a 10 dollar tester that read 120v and 240v at lowes...or even get the 20 dollar pack with the digital volt meter, tick stick, and plug tester at lowes...good luck bro
Click to expand...
 
SIR SMOKER

SIR SMOKER

New Member
SadbutTrue said:
Could it simply be that the ballast isn't sufficient?

I tried to check the voltage on the ballast and my multimeter stopped working (measured from ground to hot wie on ballast output). Took 3 measurements but itwas arcing (didn't have time to get a steady reading) so I didn't want to finish in the house. Took it to the shed where everything is and the multimeter wouldn't even power back on... guess I broke it (though the voltaeg was set on the 750v setting and I followed the directions). D'oh.

That said, a few people have suggested that my symptoms are something id probably see since I'm using a 600w ballast ona 1000 light.. sound right ?


Thats your problem right there ^^^^^^^^^^^^.
If you had a 1000w HPS ballast you could run any bulb in there either HPS or MH (not exeeding 1000W).
So you can have a 1000W HPS ballast and run a 250w/500w/600w MH or HPS but not a bulb exeeding 1000W.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top