400w Lumatek Digital Ballast with Sunmaster Warm Delux MH

[Guest]

I purchased a 400w Lumatek Digital ballast a few months ago and have been very happy with it, so far.

However, I only ran the HPS bulb in my last grow and just started a new one.

So, I popped in the SunMaster Warm Deluxe MH bulb that I purchased along with it and everything seemed fine....until we had our first typical "power flicker" that we get here during the warm days.
Anyway, the bulb did not restart. I unplugged the ballast for about 5 minutes, plugged it back in and still nothing. I had a generic 400w MH bulb, just in case. I popped that in and it works fine. If I leave the Sunmaster bulb in and leave the ballast turned off for an extended period, then the next time the ballast WILL fire the bulb, but it's as if these quick little power outages somehow cause this bulb/ballast combination, problems.

Does anyone have any ideas on this? I had original purchased a Solarmax bulb but BG Hydro (where I got the ballast and bulbs) said they're testing revealed that Digital ballasts don't have enough startup voltage to work with the Solarmax bulbs and they don't recommend their use in Digital ballasts, so they agreeed to swap the bulb for free. They didn't say that there were any known issues with the Sunmaster MH bulbs, so I'm a little unsure. I do have a call into BG but haven't heard back, as yet.

I don't really know alot about "lamp ballasts" so I don't really have a good undrstanding of what's wrong here. I understand general electrical wiring and principles well, just not this.

Any thoughts/suggestions/hints would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[Guest]

I run a 600 that I got from them also...I also run the solarmax bulb and it works fine.....never had a problem with it starting....in florida it seems the power goes out once a day in the summer.....havent seen any problems last summer...we will see about this one.....best of luck

I have never tried a conversion bulb in it...not sure about that....did you call the 1877- grow number on the web site.....there is only one lady working the returns....forget her name...they will take care of you....get you a return number and send the postage to return it...wont send you a new bulb untill you return it...stay after them......I've spent lots of money with them...they will work a custom deal.....best of luck

 

[stonewall]

"Important information regarding digital ballasts:

All electronic ballasts we've tested to date are not able to consistently ignite SOLARMAX bulbs. Solarmax bulbs require a very high voltage to start. The soft start technology will not provide enough voltage to light this brand of lamp. They will also not fire Multi Vapor Metal Halide bulbs.
Electronic ballasts should not be used on generators. Damage to ballasts caused by electric generators will not be covered under warranty.
Electronic ballasts will work only with Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium lamps. They will not work with Mercury Vapor (MV) or pulse strike metal halide lamps. "



Thats from the BG hydro page selling a digital ballast.

 

[Guest]

HurricanefanIam: (and no doubt that is a SERIOUSLY twisted nickname for someone who lives in FL! lol)

Me <- so NOT a hurricane fan...after a new roof and major water damage repair!!!

Yea...I've spent a ton of $$$ with them as well. They're customer service is very good.

I had originally ordered a pair of Solarmax bulbs; MH & HPS from them and they later stated they had some problems with those bulbs in the digital ballast. They swapped both bulbs out (even though I had not experienced any problems) for free, including shipping.

However, in this case, because I swapped for the Sunmaster MH bulb and that was over 30 days ago, they won't cover shipping, but they agreed to refund the full price of the bulb.

Now I just don't know which MH bulb to get to replace it.

They also mentioned they would do some more bench testing of the Lumatek ballast with the Sunmaster bulbs to see if they experience any problems.

 

[Guest]

Stonewall: Yea...I had seen that. Hence the reason I returned my SOLARMAX bulbs and went with the SUNMASTER.

 

[stonewall]

I posted it more for hte part where it says "will not fire multi-vapor metal halides."

 

[Guest]

Stonewall: Yea....I saw that, but I have no idea what a "multi-vapor metal halide" bulb is. None of the descriptions on any of their MH bulbs say they are "multi-vapor".

Does anyone know what a "multi-vapor metal halide" bulb is?

 

[stonewall]

mutli-vapor is GE's name for their standard metal halide lamps. which makes me believe that the digital ballast is borderlinec capable of igniting any metal halide bulbs.

I think the problem is your warm deluxe has such vapors in its arc tube that similar to the solarmax it reguires a slightly higher ignition voltage. And the digitals just cant supply it.

When the bulb is completely cooled the pressure inside the arc tube will be at its lowest which means it takes the lowest ignition voltage to start the arc. If the bulb was in the ballast for any length of time with out being lit, but with power applied, then there has been some degradation of the gas mixture in the arc tube which would tend to make the arc need higher ignition voltage than in a new bulb or a bulb that has not been subjected to

 

[Guest]

HurricanefanIam: (and no doubt that is a SERIOUSLY twisted nickname for someone who lives in FL! lol)

I get that alot.....I'm a college football fan, played football most my life.Played with and have many Miami Football alumni friends....I'm a die hard Miami Hurricanes fan......Now I also have three kids and they came up with it yrs back after reading green eggs and ham .....thats how it came to be...I have much respect for mother nature......Andrew was hell, I lived in homestead then....I'ts amazing the strength of these storms and thats impressive, but no fan of the damage.I even get bad rep. points cause of the name, so stupid........My solar max has never given me problems.....I love it.....used it in my lumatek and my future brite....best of luck and stay safe.