At the begging of every day my 600 hps doesn’t start up. I have to unplug it for a few seconds then back and it starts up. This morning i had to do it 3 times. It’s been getting down to 64 F and i have wondered if it’s because of the cold. Bulb or ballast idk. But i would think that a commonly sold product could survive 64 F. I should probably start saving for a new one before it goes out and i’m stuck in week 2 of flower with nothing but cfl’s.
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That’s probably a bsllast issue. If bulb fires and goes out make sure you give it 15-20 minutes to cool before refiring bulb.
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I agree with @dbrn32, I don’t think that your problems are explicitly temperature related, likely just a faulty ballast. That is easy to replace in most cases, I don’t know what the replacement cost of the ballast is as opposed to just replacing the whole thing.
Good thinking @HogStix, get this resolved before you have an issue that results in ruining your grow. I keep spare lights on hand just for that reason.
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get another bulb and try it,
if it still does the same chit, u know its the ballast.!
r u using a cheap timer.?
these can do funky shit also, maybe try another timer…???
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I am using a chit timer. And i thought of that also but didn;t think anymore about it when i realized other fans were running when the light did not. Are you saying chit timers cant handle the load of the light ?
my timers seem to either work or not, tho some do run slow sometimes before dying,
i’ve heard of our cheap timers doing weird things tho,
might be worth the $10 to swap it out and see if it is the problem,
if nothing else u will have a back up timer for when yours quits.!!
u could buy a cheap $20 bulb for the same reasons…???
idk how much your ballast costs, but i think $30 would be way cheaper…???
on a side note, i do not run lights and fans on the same timer,
bloom lights on one, veg on another, and fan on the 3rd…
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You can take the bulb to a hydro shop and they can put it in one of their systems to check out the bulb. all it takes is a small break in a wire inside the bulb to cause it not to work. A hydro shop might be able to see the broken wire if its a bulb but they can definatly check it out. You could also put in your bulb that you use for flowering to see if that one starts up. it would only be fr a few seconds so that wouldn’t hurt your plant(s).
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I had one of my 400w lights do the same thing, does it seem to be abit louder than normal? (The electric buzz noise)
Found that the transformer/ballast was arcing out on it self. Light would come on for few min then just shut off
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no louder noise. For the first time in a week it came on ok and seemed brighter to me, but this morning it failed to start. Had to unplug it for 5 minutes and it sparks up sometimes i have to do it 2 or 3 times.
I feel like im hanging on by thin thread until tax refund, and i can be done with i-power light set up, and keep it for a shaky backup. I have 4 plants with around 15 flowers each that are ready to bust open. I’ve come to far to have a chit light destroy my grow.