Bought a new 1k watt ballast for my hood/light, socket is smoking now. Whats wrong?

[westinghouse]

As the title says, I had a hood and light already prepped and ready to go with a nice bulb in it. I just bought a brand new 1k watt ballast and hooked everything up to make sure it all works. As I was watching the bulb/light socket, smoke started rising from the light socket. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them? I have used this light socket in the past with a MH bulb instead of the HPS bulb I'm using now. Are the sockets different or anything when using different bulbs? The previous ballast I used was a switchable, but I never saw smoking coming from the socket with the MH bulb and old ballast.

What would cause a light socket to smoke now with a new ballast, a proven socket, and HPS bulb? Does this mean it's not grounding right, and there's too much heat building up? I have an extra light socket around here somewhere, but it's only a 2-wire socket, black and white wire. Any ideas? Any help would be appreciated. Tonight when my other lights are on I will go in and pull the smoking socket apart to see if I can find anything obvious.

Thanks for any input, I really need this 1k watt up and running alongside the currently running 600hps

 

[Haps]

Unplug the ballast. Something is wrong, compatability, wattage, you need to figure that out. Do not plan on this unit working, you fried something.
H

 

[westinghouse]

Unplug the ballast. Something is wrong, compatability, wattage, you need to figure that out. Do not plan on this unit working, you fried something.
H

Of course I unplugged it, I know better than to try and run that when it's smoking. I just figured a 1k watt ballast powering a 1k watt bulb, using a socket that has used a 1k watt bulb/ballast before would work out. Guess I'll pull it apart tonight and see wtf is up. Thank you for responding though, I appreciate every response

Anyone else have any ideas what may be wrong?

 

[JOE CHRONIC]

Anyone else have any ideas what may be wrong?

Are you sure you are running the correct bulb with the correct ballast (i.e. use MH bulb in MH ballast, HPS bulb in HPS ballast ) ?

 

[westinghouse]

Are you sure you are running the correct bulb with the correct ballast (i.e. use MH bulb in MH ballast, HPS bulb in HPS ballast ) ?

Yes, it has a 1k watt HPS bulb being powered by the new HPS 1k watt ballast.

The light powers up just fine, and is bright as hell, it just starts slowly smoking when you turn it on. I'll start going over everything in a few hours when the other lights are on.

 

[westinghouse]

I just double checked on the numbers on the old ballast that isn't working, and the ballast i bought on friday. the numbers are IDENTICAL. Both are HPS 1000w Ballasts, the same amps, the same volts, everything. There isn't one different or missing number between both ballasts. I guess there is something wrong with the socket. The light works good with it, bright as fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....welll it's bright. LOL.

I'm gonna pull the socket assembly apart in a few minutes and see if there's something obviously wrong. That's the only thing I can think of, is that maybe this ballast requires a 3-wire socket assembly. A positive, negative, and ground, or something like that, and maybe the socket in the hood right now is only a 2-wire? Dunno.

I really hope someone else has had this problem and can speak up to give me some advice. I really really really need that 2nd light up.

 

[globel]

i bought a ballast one time and it caught on fire.. It spit fire out every little hole it had... last magnetic ballast i got ever... Thank god a buy from a local guy and it was simple return.

 

[cyberthreat]

my ballast has a ground & all them do man your going to burn your house down

 

[indifferent]

Clean the socket with isopropyl alcohol, the smoke could just be from some dirt in the socket.

 

[westinghouse]

Well I opened up the socket assembly, and the negative wire wasn't connected to the negative wire coming out of the cord that plugs into the ballast. the ground wire was ALSO not connected to the shell of the socket assembly. Hooked those up, plugged the ballast in, VOILA! No more smoking (which was the wire caps that connect two wires together under a plastic cap melting) from the socket assembly! YES!!!!!!!!!

Finally time to add that 1000w light to the 600w already going. One week into flower, and these babies are about to feel the REAL power of the "sun"

 

[westinghouse]

my ballast has a ground & all them do man your going to burn your house down

When I saw that it was smoking, I unplugged it. How hard is that to understand? I'm not being stupid with it, that's why I'm asking the forums and leaving it unplugged. How am I going to burn my house down?

 

[cyberthreat]

Because if you don't know that it should be grounded then you know shit about wireing or electrical that's why I predicted you would burn your house down or electricut your self

 

[westinghouse]

Because if you don't know that it should be grounded then you know shit about wireing or electrical that's why I predicted you would burn your house down or electricut your self

Yes, me asking before I did ANYTHING else, especially unplugging it the moment I saw smoke, was exactly the wrong thing to do. I am so lucky I didn't electrocute myself and/or burn my shit down. I *almost* just left it to sit there smoking just to see what happens, ya know? Just for shits and giggles or something.

I forgot, we should all know everything about all wiring before stepping foot in here to ask a question. I'm so sorry, can you ever forgive me?

Thanks for all your help, you really contributed a worthwhile amount to this thread.

 

[PharmaCan]

Well I opened up the socket assembly, and the negative wire wasn't connected to the negative wire coming out of the cord that plugs into the ballast. the ground wire was ALSO not connected to the shell of the socket assembly. Hooked those up, plugged the ballast in, VOILA! No more smoking (which was the wire caps that connect two wires together under a plastic cap melting) from the socket assembly! YES!!!!!!!!!

Finally time to add that 1000w light to the 600w already going. One week into flower, and these babies are about to feel the REAL power of the "sun"

This kind of a strange thing to happen - connections usually don't just come apart. I hope you checked the connection on the other wires while you had them exposed. It takes a real space cadet to fuck-up a wire-nut connection, so I'd double check all the connections said space cadet may have made.

...and do be careful not to burn your house down. LOL

PC

 

[westinghouse]

This kind of a strange thing to happen - connections usually don't just come apart. I hope you checked the connection on the other wires while you had them exposed. It takes a real space cadet to fuck-up a wire-nut connection, so I'd double check all the connections said space cadet may have made.

...and do be careful not to burn your house down. LOL

PC

Well, my friend let me borrow the light/hood/ballast since he isn't using it right now, and it turns out the ballast is bad. So I went and bought another one. All is well now, and it's bright as FUCK in that special room, now I think from moving the hood around so much in transport that one of the wires came loose, which is why there was an issue in the first place. It's a cheapie hood/socket anyways, so I won't mind giving that back around mid december when I won't need it anymore

At least now I have my own 1k watt hps ballast and will need to buy my own hood/socket in december to continue on with my green thumb journey. Man, I can't even fathom how much this 1kw and 600w will produce come mid december.

I flipped it to 12/12 weekend before last, and all my babies are starting to show little mini buds. They're so tiny (the little mini-buds) and since this is my first time ever, I'm really paying attention everyday to what is going on. Wish me luck guys, I hope the next 7 weeks go off without a hitch.

 

[JOE CHRONIC]

Well, my friend let me borrow the light/hood/ballast since he isn't using it right now, and it turns out the ballast is bad. So I went and bought another one. All is well now, and it's bright as FUCK in that special room, now I think from moving the hood around so much in transport that one of the wires came loose, which is why there was an issue in the first place. It's a cheapie hood/socket anyways, so I won't mind giving that back around mid december when I won't need it anymore

At least now I have my own 1k watt hps ballast and will need to buy my own hood/socket in december to continue on with my green thumb journey. Man, I can't even fathom how much this 1kw and 600w will produce come mid december.

I flipped it to 12/12 weekend before last, and all my babies are starting to show little mini buds. They're so tiny (the little mini-buds) and since this is my first time ever, I'm really paying attention everyday to what is going on. Wish me luck guys, I hope the next 7 weeks go off without a hitch.

Good deal !