Light wont turn on! need help.

Hey Rollitup,

Iam just about to make my first grow, but first i've bumped into some messed up problems.

The thing is, that i've got my tent, filter and ventilation and everything set up and ready, but the lights just wont turn on.

I've got a 600w light with its own ballast and shit, we had to make the cables to it ourselves. First when we plugged it in, the light did turn on and all - and then we rapidly turned it off again. THEN we moved the ligthing and it' ballast into the tent, and suddenly it would not turn on anymore.

I've put alot of money and time in this, and today i've done nothing but to try to setup all this stuff.

Anyone who has some experience with this? Someone told me that after the first lighting you'll have to wait some time, but i dont know, this is just so frustating!

Please help! pics att are my ballast and ligthing bulb.

you cant turn it off and turn it right back on, they need a couple mins. give it 5 mins and try again. let us know what happens.

Is it plugged in? lol, I'm j/k.

The thing that stands out to me:

• we had to make the cables to it ourselves​
  
  

I would start there and double check your cables.

2nd It will take a few seconds for the bulb to fire up but typically is very quick.

3rd The bulb maybe a dud. Is it new? Is it a cheapy? etc.

My best guess is that the *homemade wiring is your issue. What did you have to wire?

*= Edit

Can't tell from pics but did you strip the insulation off the conductors before putting them in the terminal blocks?

Hey YTKIND

The first thing we did was to double check the wires and cable, and they're all as they should be. The bulb is all new, dont know if it cheapy, it cost like 160 bucks with a reflector for it.


What do you mean with wires? Will the following pic att. help you?

I don't know alot about this except that is it a very high frequency that is needed from the ballast. More that 20,000 cycles per second, as we up that from 60 cycles in from the wall plug.

So, no ground, no shielding. I am thinking the cable is not allowing the start, and only a poor start before that, right. 4 wire in two pairs, I guess, one is the house current.
Ballasts are tricky, you could read up on what ballasting means. I think heavy shielded cable with a ground to actual ground rod, and to the hood, would be only a guess.
The other is the ballast crapped out when you moved it.

This is what I use. Good luck. It is a tricky problem and hard to test.

Hey SnapsProvolone
Yes, i have.

Hey Doer, here you can see a better overview from my cables and where they head to, do you still think they look weak? The problem with the cable you att is that one of the ends does not fit.

I live en europe, so english is not my first language (which also explains the weird-looking extension cord) - what do you mean that the ballast is "crabbed", like its defect? And if so how do you find out?

Well, the plug doesn't matter. In EU aren't you on 220v @ 50 hz, I think you need a shielded cable. You can put the right plug on it.

I think you need a good ground. But, I can't help beyond that, sorry.

The wires don't look to be heavy gauge to me. I know that when I plug my ballast (600w) into my timer it takes much longer to fire up than when it is plugged directly into the outlet. I think making sure you are using heavy gauge wiring will make a difference. Good Luck

Yeah that is the 3rd thing.

Heavier wire, like 10 guage in the American system
Ground to a ground rod

I think that may not require a shield. The ground resonance is good enough.

I did try putting a switch inline with the ballast and lamp. You cannot use an SSR, solid state relay because it can't hold the frequency. I ended up switching the wall power.