HorseBadoritiz
Active member
I may be. At first I thought it was my soil mix, but now that you mention it, it could be the lights. What are you seeing?
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Philips 315w CDM Elite (CMH)
- Thread starter rives
- Start date
I may be. At first I thought it was my soil mix, but now that you mention it, it could be the lights. What are you seeing?
We had a problem this weekend where we found our two Phantom II CMH lights out. After the first outage the timer was removed and the power strip was put on a different circuit. The second time it happened, I was in the room and watched both lights go out at the same time. Reasoning this through, there was nothing in common but the ballast design that could have caused both lights to shut down at the same time. We live in a coastal area where the population triples in the summer and it was the hottest day of the summer so far.
Arriving today is a Tripp Lite Voltage Conditioner. I contacted Hydrofarm this morning and confirmed my suspicions that the ballasts have over voltage and under voltage protection and also found out that there is a fifteen minute cool down cycle for the bulb built into the circuit on the ballasts. I was not able to confirm if a power reset was required after an over or under voltage trip. I believe there is.
In summary, from the shock of finding the lights out, to the logic process of seeing two lights (ballasts) shut down at the same time with no timer or other common part, To the twenty minute intelligent conversation with the first person who answered the phone at Hydrofarm East Coast, I can not fault the Phantom lights for the darkness. Obviously they can not provide a ballast capable of compensating for faulty line voltage or frequency. Their ballasts have protection circuits that prevented damage. In this case, even if the ballasts reset themselves and start up after the cool down cycle I still think the voltage conditioner is a good idea so that the ballast protection system is not tested repeatedly.
Arriving today is a Tripp Lite Voltage Conditioner. I contacted Hydrofarm this morning and confirmed my suspicions that the ballasts have over voltage and under voltage protection and also found out that there is a fifteen minute cool down cycle for the bulb built into the circuit on the ballasts. I was not able to confirm if a power reset was required after an over or under voltage trip. I believe there is.
In summary, from the shock of finding the lights out, to the logic process of seeing two lights (ballasts) shut down at the same time with no timer or other common part, To the twenty minute intelligent conversation with the first person who answered the phone at Hydrofarm East Coast, I can not fault the Phantom lights for the darkness. Obviously they can not provide a ballast capable of compensating for faulty line voltage or frequency. Their ballasts have protection circuits that prevented damage. In this case, even if the ballasts reset themselves and start up after the cool down cycle I still think the voltage conditioner is a good idea so that the ballast protection system is not tested repeatedly.
Mine got here today.
WOW! I plugged it in it lit up and i was hmm not as bright....OH shit its still going ....Then DAMN that little fucker is bright ! i can stick my hand about 1 inch from the bulb no discomfort.
So im looking at the performance sheet. The things run about 2.9 amps. (120v)
So 4 of these should have no issues running on a 15 amp.
WOW! I plugged it in it lit up and i was hmm not as bright....OH shit its still going ....Then DAMN that little fucker is bright ! i can stick my hand about 1 inch from the bulb no discomfort.
So im looking at the performance sheet. The things run about 2.9 amps. (120v)
So 4 of these should have no issues running on a 15 amp.
that's what i've been doing, should be no problem
theLumberjack
Member
if anything i run mine longer because they are so damn happy.
Following the 80% rule for continuous loads means it'll work fine. There's not much left over to run anything else, however.
I had this happen as well on the new Ballast. I found that the power surge is what caused my issue. All of the equipment is turned on at the same time. It seems this ballast is more sensitive to this. I put some of the equipment on a delay it has not happened again. I could only do this on the 120v side of the power box. I cant find any Surge or delay for 240v..
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Some powerboxes come with a 240v delay standard, however it is only the larger models.
My limited experience is that plants are def mature in the time frame of what honest seedmakers claim, some on the early side w/ twin 315's in a 4x4 space. Part of that may be due to light intensity.
I tend to grow longer flowering 10-12 week strains. I've no reason to hurry since it's all head stash, anyway. I'm happy to wait for strong signs of senescence in the leaves & milky trichomes. It's a retirement schedule rather than a production schedule.
is dPapillon fixture good? Seems hard to get anything else in EU.. Is there THD in the play or are frequencies low in this kind of light? phantom 2 got me interested with all those light security aspects because I'm a bit afraid of possible fire hazards so does anyone know if those are missing from philips digital ballast which d'papillon got?
other question is which bulb is better overall? 3 or 4k one? just gonna run 1 fixture in small tent
other question is which bulb is better overall? 3 or 4k one? just gonna run 1 fixture in small tent
I haven't observed any RF problems with it. I have a clock radio literally on top of my tent.
I am running a 3000Kelvin light right now in a nanolux fixture. I think its the proper bulb for flower.
I found the ballast off again today. For some reason it will not refire. After resetting the power cord it would still not fire. I reset the light cord and power cord it fired up. once its on it stays on. This happens when the lights come on.. It seems the light cord is preventing it from refireing. The old Phantom 315 does not have this issue. If this keeps doing this it will get returned.
The Prism Ballast doesn't do this as well.. I have 2 more of these on the way. These work just as good same warranty as Phantom @only 140$
The Prism Ballast doesn't do this as well.. I have 2 more of these on the way. These work just as good same warranty as Phantom @only 140$
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so which brand ballast are you having trouble with hh?
The Phantom II 315.
I made some changes. I put the new Phantom II in the veg room all by itself with no other lights on that circuit. I took the old Phantom 315 put that in the flower room. All lights are on I won't know if this fixes this until tomorrow.
I made some changes. I put the new Phantom II in the veg room all by itself with no other lights on that circuit. I took the old Phantom 315 put that in the flower room. All lights are on I won't know if this fixes this until tomorrow.
There is a 15 minute cool down period after shut down. It will not restart immediately. This is a design feature to prevent damage to the bulb. On start up, you will see flickers as the ballast steps up. Also a design feature. The ballast will also shut down if you get over voltage or under voltage. Not verified, but I think this requires a reset.
No it doesn't refire after 15 min or 15 hrs. The bulbs need the 15m cool down not the ballast. I dod not see any flicker on mine. When they fire there on until up to full power. . Ballast's do not require a brain surgeon to know how to get it to work properly. This New Ballast tries to fire for the 1st time of the day and randomly fails. No amount of waiting will get it to refire. The only way to get it to fire after it failed is to unplug both the power and Light cords. I think it has more to do with the light cord. If it happens again I will try resting the light cord only.
The lights stays on for the 12hrs then shuts down like normal. When it fires @7pm sometimes fails. After making new location arrangements will see if this helps. if not back it goes I will get more Prism Ballast.
The lights stays on for the 12hrs then shuts down like normal. When it fires @7pm sometimes fails. After making new location arrangements will see if this helps. if not back it goes I will get more Prism Ballast.
I'm pretty sure we had a brown out or an under voltage trip on the ballast safety system. I had to do the same thing you did by unplugging both the lamp and the power to reset it. There have been no further problems since installing the Tripp Lite LC1200 Line Conditioner.
You use 120v, I use 240v they dont make a surge for 240v that I can find. I'm pretty sure if I could stagger power on for the lights it would fix the problem. The old Phantom 315 doesn't have this issue. Thats what in now. The new 1 will be used in veg if it doesn't continue to do it.
None of the 315 ballast do this except the Phantom II 315. All have this over/under voltage protection is standard if im not mistaken. I think this 1 is to sensitive of faulty.
M flower room has its own dedicated 60a circuit.
I use this Isobar on the120v side.
None of the 315 ballast do this except the Phantom II 315. All have this over/under voltage protection is standard if im not mistaken. I think this 1 is to sensitive of faulty.
M flower room has its own dedicated 60a circuit.
I use this Isobar on the120v side.
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I'll explain my setup for you guys.
I have a 3'x6' geolplanter with 2 x 315w over that.
Essentially a 3x3 footprint for those fixtures.
I have a 4'x4' tent with 1 x 315w in it.
I also have a large mortar pan dtw coco scrog with a 315w above it.
It is pretty close to a 2'x4' area, 4 plants only.
I threw one in veg for my moms too, it sits over roughly a 3'x4' area.
I use t5 shop lights in a vert storage rack for smaller plants.
I wasn't getting enough light to keep larger moms wi the t5's so I picked up the 4100k Philips to help.
I have it sitting in a cool tube , non vented.
I can put my hands on the edges of the tube with no burn to my digits.
There's heat coming off the bulb, but not enough to air cool.
I have a 3'x6' geolplanter with 2 x 315w over that.
Essentially a 3x3 footprint for those fixtures.
I have a 4'x4' tent with 1 x 315w in it.
I also have a large mortar pan dtw coco scrog with a 315w above it.
It is pretty close to a 2'x4' area, 4 plants only.
I threw one in veg for my moms too, it sits over roughly a 3'x4' area.
I use t5 shop lights in a vert storage rack for smaller plants.
I wasn't getting enough light to keep larger moms wi the t5's so I picked up the 4100k Philips to help.
I have it sitting in a cool tube , non vented.
I can put my hands on the edges of the tube with no burn to my digits.
There's heat coming off the bulb, but not enough to air cool.
