New digital ballast making high pitch noise?!?

pornstache

pornstache

Member
Anyone had an issue where a new ballast is making a high pitch noise whenever a bulb is lit?

It is a 1000w digital which can be switched between 400, 420, 600, 630, 1000, etc. and the built in odometer confirms that it is in fact new. It is from one of the major manufacturers, not some chinese knockoff POS.

The noise happens at all wattage settings, and with multiple wattage MH and HPS bulbs that work fine on another ballast from the same manufacturer.

The noise sometimes alternates between pitches, but can be heard from across the room. My other ballast only puts off a quiet buzz sound that can only be heard when you get close to it.

Any thoughts?
 
nomofatum

nomofatum

Well-Known Member
Unless it's a common complaint in reviews and they don't blow up in a short period of time, return it now. You likely have a component that will be failing. Defective.
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
Who cares if/what/when/why. Get the manufacturer or the shop you bought it from to replace it.

-spek
 
S

spek9

Well-Known Member
ps and btw, if you question a new ballast (or any equipment), there's probably something wrong (even as a newb). Don't second guess... use the warranty (then report back here so we can validate manufacturers).

Welcome to RIU :)

-spek
 
pornstache

pornstache

Member
110, no fan.

Main concern is whether there would be any reason the 1000w model would make this loud high pitched noise while the 600w model does not (both actually running a 600w bulb, just not running the 1000w at max capacity)

I would rather not mention the model, I am very happy with my 600w and don't want to possibly damage the reputation of the manufacturer over one bad unit.

Ill see if I can upload some audio. Carolina can you describe the sound yours made? I really don't want to risk damaging my bulbs if there's any possibility its bad.

Thanks everyone for the insights thus far!
 
Carolina Dream'n

Carolina Dream'n

Well-Known Member
The damn thing sounded like it was gonna make the bulb explode. High pitch nose that seemed to get louder then fade away within a cpl minutes. I turned it off and called solis tek, they said it was fine, and also said it was abnormally loud when using a new ballast and bulb. His explanation in laymen terms was ballast use the same frequency as some household items. It was on the same frequency as the cable or internet making the loud pitch noise, until the ballast notices and switches to a similar frequency. I trusted them and plugged back up, the next day or two it went away.
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
pornstache said:
110, no fan.

Main concern is whether there would be any reason the 1000w model would make this loud high pitched noise while the 600w model does not (both actually running a 600w bulb, just not running the 1000w at max capacity)

I would rather not mention the model, I am very happy with my 600w and don't want to possibly damage the reputation of the manufacturer over one bad unit.

Ill see if I can upload some audio. Carolina can you describe the sound yours made? I really don't want to risk damaging my bulbs if there's any possibility its bad.

Thanks everyone for the insights thus far!
Click to expand...
so your running a 600w bulb in a 1000w ballast? correct me if I am wrong, but those numbers don't match up
 
Carolina Dream'n

Carolina Dream'n

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
so your running a 600w bulb in a 1000w ballast? correct me if I am wrong, but those numbers don't match up
Click to expand...
Probably a newer model ballast that let's you choose your watts. My solis tek matrix can do a 400w,600w or 1000w. Hps or mh.
You can use the solis boost for an extra 5% giving you the 420, 630 and 1050w settings.
 
pornstache

pornstache

Member
If the 600 had made any similar noise I might be inclined to think it was normal, but even brand new, the 600 was almost silent except for the quiet buzz. They were both plugged into the exact same outlet at the same time as well.

Heres the audio of what its doing...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BykaoJ5vNQ8zRi1IWU5yVFRzN1E/view?usp=sharing

you might have to turn your volume up a little.

Correct its the kind you can set the wattage to match your bulb. My other ballast is too except it maxes out at 600 instead of 1000
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
Carolina Dream'n said:
Probably a newer model ballast that let's you choose your watts. My solis tek matrix can do a 400w,600w or 1000w. Hps or mh.
You can use the solis boost for an extra 5% giving you the 420, 630 and 1050w settings.
Click to expand...
I am a magnetic core ballast person as my grow area can tolerate the heat and I don't see the $$ payoff in less than 3 years by the actual energy saved from the digital units vs the cost of the units themselves. Plus I have done a bit of monitoring and seems you get a longer life from Magnetic with the ability of a DIY repair job if they do fail. Only bonus I see from digital is that the Solid State is able to drive both MH and HPS, but being I veg under LED, MH is rather obselete for me.

So in conclusion I was under the impression that the dial downs were for the intensity, not actually different bulb....ie 1000watt ballast can a 1000 watt bulb at 600 watt intensity etc etc etc....or was that the old school of digital ballast?
 
Carolina Dream'n

Carolina Dream'n

Well-Known Member
BAMS said:
I am a magnetic core ballast person as my grow area can tolerate the heat and I don't see the $$ payoff in less than 3 years by the actual energy saved from the digital units vs the cost of the units themselves. Plus I have done a bit of monitoring and seems you get a longer life from Magnetic with the ability of a DIY repair job if they do fail. Only bonus I see from digital is that the Solid State is able to drive both MH and HPS, but being I veg under LED, MH is rather obselete for me.

So in conclusion I was under the impression that the dial downs were for the intensity, not actually different bulb....ie 1000watt ballast can a 1000 watt bulb at 600 watt intensity etc etc etc....or was that the old school of digital ballast?
Click to expand...
Yea the dial down is old technology and bad technology at that.

Digital ballast are worth the money if you run them on 220v. None of my ballast, are hot. Not even warm to the touch on 220. On 110, whole different story. They run hot as hell, just another way to prove 110v is inferior power supply.
I rarely see anything over 4 lights running on magnetic.
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
good to know the new tech....im on 240v mains in Australia, but as I said in earlier post I can't justify the cost......magnetic 600w ballast = $89-$100 (rebuildable) vs Digital 600w (decent brand, lumatek, solistek, gavita) = $200-$350 (gavita all in one unit $550+)

so with their claimed power saving efficiency, and the cost of my electricity ($ per Kw/h), it would take me 3 years to pay off the cost difference of a digital ballast, and also like I said, I have enough fresh air transfer and the AC running that I don't see much of a temp difference being both my magnetics are mounted up high next to the carbon scrubber
 
BAMS

BAMS

Well-Known Member
I apologize, I didn't mean to hijack this thread, but when I saw a 600 bulb in a 1000 watt ballast, I was sort of seeing a problem being I am still on old school ballast knowledge
 
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