super hot ballast

furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
I am going to do a test, I am going to monitor the heat from the current ballast for 1-2 hours, and I'm going to rate the humming on a 1-10 scale, I will then change the ballast, leave for 30 minutes then do the same test, then I will post results here, the replacement ballast is the same as the one I'm using now, so we will see :)
 
furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
hotshotisdashit said:
Imo magnetic ballast are hot and heavy. I think hot is normal but as previously mentioned humming is not normal.
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Thanks for the reply, from all the research I have done all I can get to is, the humming/vibrating sound is the metal plates vibrating together or something else vibrating, but like I said I am doing a test now, I will be checking the temps/sound in about 40 min, then I will change ballast and re - do tests to see the difference
 
furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
So the current ballast is pumping out heat between 35-42 degrees Celsius, and for noise, if 1 was silent and 10 was I'm scared about losing my fingers, I would say it's between 4-5. So now I am going to change the ballast, do the same tests and I will post the difference :)
 
tyke1973

tyke1973

Well-Known Member
I have four new ballast,they get hot very hot,don't use them.Growing is good and well worth the effort but if there is a chance of dying growing it not worth it
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
tyke1973 said:
I have four new ballast,they get hot very hot,don't use them.Growing is good and well worth the effort but if there is a chance of dying growing it not worth it
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that's a bit excessive. anything that plugs in is a possible fire danger. smoke detectors in the grow area is highly recommended.
 
tyke1973

tyke1973

Well-Known Member
Honest dude i have seen the result of a old ballast been used,i only said get shut because he said its old and aint been used in a good while,i use them of mine again but just not on a small grow,they just add to heat in a room that you are trying to make cool
 
furious248

furious248

Well-Known Member
Ok, so I changed the ballast and straight away I can hear the difference, the new ballast is making a very quiet gentle noise, and the temperature is not a issue, I can hold my hand on the ballast with no problems, thank you everyone for your help, and advice. You may have saved my house from burning down :)
 
$bkbbudz$

$bkbbudz$

Well-Known Member
I cannot understand why this old ballast is so important to you that you are going through all this BS just too have a fire hazard.

Dump it, get a digital and grow on with life.

Good Luck and Great Grow.
 
Alexander Supertramp

Alexander Supertramp

Well-Known Member
grapefruitmarmalade said:
Ah ok... I was just curious because with metal halide bulbs the igniter can't strike the arc if the cable is too long, and if it does strike the ballast will emit an annoying hum because of the igniter coils. With HPS bulbs you can go as much as 70 feet with no worries.
So yeah get a new ballast. If you choose to keep it magnetic try the "compact" ones, the ones you can't disassemble, I use none other than that
EDIT: I gotta add... all ballasts get hot. Don't dismiss it just because YOU THINK it gets TOO hot
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HPS requires and igniter, not MH. Op you may want to look into just checking/replacing the core. If you even moderately electrically inclined its not that difficult. Magnetic ballasts are pretty basic in nature.
 
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