Basic Ballast Problem

[Sirius]

Hi, I'm assuming this is a common way for magnetic ballasts to malfunction, and I'm not expecting an in-depth diagnosis or anything, but I'm cracking it out of its case right now and thought to see what you guys might think.

Basically, it runs, no light happening or anything, but its making a constant sound, some kind of rattling. Its definitely the ballast itself and not the bulb that is the problem. I'm not in a situation where I need to fix this, but if it is just a loose thing in here or something, it'd always be great to fix it.

 

[Sirius]

http://www.hydroponics.eu/product.asp?Id=1009-Ballast+Control+Gear+BLACKBOX+600W+HPS

That's the ballast in particular... I'd assume it has something to do with the ignitor? It definitely is running, stays really hot and everything, just makes that clicking sound with no light....

 

[micro gro]

With what you described I'm not so sure I can diagnose it accurately. Sometimes a loose / disconnected lamp cord will do that (i.e., a powered ballast that has nowhere to send output).

 

[Sirius]

Well, I've put it back together and will try to hook it up again. I'm hoping that you're right, along with our feeling that maybe simply taking it apart and hooking it back up will perform a miracle. It wasn't like there was anything inside anyways that I could have done anything with - a microchip with a big cylinder that must have been the ignitor, and it was still hooked up to the metal plugs just fine, and then the huge magnetic casing that I couldn't open anyways.

 

[tree d]

Often the ignitor and/or capacitor are not securely mounted and will begin to rattle/hum like you hear on some overhead street lights.
Tighten everything down real good and make sure things aren't touching inside.

 

[Lord Doobie]

ditto...
how quiet was it before you took it apart?
you can always buy a electronic ballast...