1000 watt HPS not always coming on

[mtbazz]

Ballast is a 1000watt phantom digital ballast plugged into a timer that is plugged into a heavy duty industrial grade power strip.

At least once a week for the most 2-3 weeks that ballast will turn on but the lamp will not fire. I need to cycle the power to the ballast in order to get the lamp to fire.

Replaced the timer with a new one, tried different circuits, same story...

Thoughts?

 

[oejack9]

Hmm....maybe you're power strip can eat all the wattage but is having issue's with the amp's...I use a 2 different types of power strips...one is the heavy duty kind that can eat 20 amps...the other is a timer in and of itself that can eat up to 15 amps...It has 4 sockets that are timed and 4 that are not....I use it in my veg.tent I have maybe about 300 watt's at 10 amps running through the timed side and and inline fan and 6 inch circulation fan pluged into the non-timed side....the total wattage is about 150 for that side at less then 10 amps....hope that helps?

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Yer brakes are shot and you need a new transmission. Sign here please.

Seriously though, what age is the ballast? Sounds like something is going bad in it.
You cycle it and it's fine... if it does the same thing with a new lamp, it's the ballast.

Stay Safe!

 

[mtbazz]

Yer brakes are shot and you need a new transmission. Sign here please.

Seriously though, what age is the ballast? Sounds like something is going bad in it.
You cycle it and it's fine... if it does the same thing with a new lamp, it's the ballast.

Stay Safe!

ballast isn;t that old...two years tops.

 

[-Capfan-]

Hopefully you can just take it back to the shop and have it exchanged, thats the one thing i love about good ole ballast, is that you can fix em yourself.


Im pretty sure if the fuse was blown, the lamp wouldnt even fire at all, but swap it with another ballast, or try a new one..


Just a thought



edit:

As oddball as it may sound, perhaps the fixture (hood) wires could be getting loose? Could you verify that it has good connections?

 

[intotheunknown]

Yer brakes are shot and you need a new transmission. Sign here please.

Seriously though, what age is the ballast? Sounds like something is going bad in it.
You cycle it and it's fine... if it does the same thing with a new lamp, it's the ballast.

Stay Safe!

bring around...the loaner...

sounds like you may have an intermittent ignition issue.

 

[BCNeil]

bring around...the loaner...

sounds like you may have an intermittent ignition issue.

Can the igniter even be replaced on these new electronic ballasts?

I remember way back when I had magnetics, it was pretty easy and cheap to replace them yourself

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Can the igniter even be replaced on these new electronic ballasts?

Supposedly it's a simple process. You need the parts (pretty cheap), the know-how (Expensive by a combination of time and $$$) and the equipment (also expensive but cheap once acquired).

I've heard that a good electronics tech can replace the bad parts in less than an hour... usually.

I remember way back when I had magnetics, it was pretty easy and cheap to replace them yourself

Yep, that's why I still use mags... the parts, a screwdriver, wire strippers and some wire nuts is usually all you need. Hella cheap compared to electronics.

Stay Safe!

 

[BasementGrower]

sounds like a bad ignitor. i went back to mags.. . but honestly. i feel i get to keep my room just as cool as my room was with the new electronics .. but i just have to make a ballast enclosure.. and exhaust the enclosure with a fan fan.. keeps the ballasts nice and cool.. lowered my ambient 7 degrees F. just from exhausting the ballast heat... next i make some covers for the hoods.. an that should be another 5 degrees.. this summer i wont have to run half the AC i been running with just a few changes.. this is what happens.. wen u meet an older and i mean olderrrrrrrrrr GROwer lol..