Is my digital ballast bad or is it my bulb?

[Kushed]

I've only had my 600w lumatek digital ballast now for 4-6 months and only used it for one grow. I had it running 18/6 and today go into the room and see the lights not on, and when i unplug the ballast and plug it back in, the lightbulb just flickers shortly, it looks like blue lightning in the bulb i would say for like 1 second.

Does this mean my bulbs bad, or is it the ballast or something else? Thanks for the help guys

 

[ugmjfarmer]

Hmm.. Have the same problem with mine from time to time. I press the white button on the side, plug it in and it seems to work. I think it's the ballast to be honest, running bulbs at 20,000 pulses per second when they are designed for 60 pulses is what causes bulbs to fail prematurely and mine seems to burn through them way too fast.

I bought 1000w mag's and I'll be converting to all mags from now on.

 

[bongoie]

Did you give it a few min to cool down ? if not try it again

 

[Kushed]

I've tried both your suggestions and unfortuantly still the same prob, I also forgot to mention its an hps bulb, and its the one that came with it so maybe it just needs replacing? Also when starting the light before, it never flickered the weird blue lightning inside the bulb, it would just dim for a second the turn on but like instantly ya know?

Any other suggestions or help would be appreciated thanks guys

 

[Lazyman]

My Hortilux bulbs do that when a digital ballast fries em, new bulb (Ushio works much better. Never use Hortilux Eye bulbs with a digital ballast!

 

[noone88]

I have had a 50% failure rate with Lumatek ballasts and Hortilux bulbs. I have switched over to Ushio (and eventually the new Sun Pulses) with my digital ballasts.

My hydro guy says what I experienced is an anomaly. But i've read enough posts on forums stating that Lumateks and Hortiluxs is a bad combination.

 

[Kushed]

Well I looked at the bulb and i dont see what kind it is, its just what came with it, but i hope this is the problem cause I obviously dont wanna have to replace the ballast or anything. Are PlusRite bulbs good ones? I found them on 1000bulbs for cheap so i was just wondering.

 

[whodair]

those plus rite are so cheap it wont hurt to try

 

[apartmentblower]

out of 9 lummies i own, 2 have bit the dust. one in about 8 months, and one in about 1 week. one was running a horti bulb. the ballast died but i kept the bulb and it seems to work fine. im runnin 2 hortis and 2 ushios in the same room and to tell you the truth the buds on the ushio side are denser and look better but it might just be how high i had the lights. i gotta tell you if i was growing commercial it'd be magnetic all the way.



by the way, apparently certain newer lumateks are supposed to work fine with hortis. either way my shop says they sell a ton of horti / lumi combos even since the old lumatek style ballasts and they dont have any major problems. from what ive read on the internet i think otherwise but you know how that goes. either way good thing for the lumatek warranty!!!!


p.s. on one of my lumateks that died, it seems that the ballast held a charge even after it was unplugged. i remember touching the male plug and getting a nice jolt , as well did the guy who took it back on warranty. for how much of a fire hazard and personal danger these sorts of things are when they go bad you'd think you'd get a personal apology letter from lumatek or something when you bring back a ballast that could have burned down your house if you hadn't caught it early.

 

[apartmentblower]

I have had a 50% failure rate with Lumatek ballasts and Hortilux bulbs. I have switched over to Ushio (and eventually the new Sun Pulses) with my digital ballasts.

My hydro guy says what I experienced is an anomaly. But i've read enough posts on forums stating that Lumateks and Hortiluxs is a bad combination.

how are the sun pulses? what is the price on em? do you run the full series from veg to bloom to UV bulb?

 

[noone88]

Haven't had a chance to use the Sun Pulses.

On the box, they advise changing the light spectrum during flowering period. However, for my size, it's not practical. I am contemplating running a mixed MH/HPS.