HID ballast ticking noise

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Donald McGonagle

New Member
I have a phantom ballast for a 315w CMH. Occasionally it starts making a ticking noise and causes the light to blink... not on/off, but you can see the light dimming. It blinks about 3 times per second continually. The previous times this happened I thought it was the timer going bad so I just kept them on hand to change out as needed. After 8 timers in a 6 month period I got rid of the timer and started manually controlling lights. Then it started again.

I figured with a previous incorrect diagnosis I would try unplugging the system, let it cool down and then start her back up. Fixed the problem for now.

What could this be?
 
sounds like the ballast is on its way out...a lot of hours on it?...cheerz...h00k...:Hookah:
 
I dunno for sure...just a layman's knowledge...see if I can rustle up some more knowledge...cheerz...h00k...:Hookah:
 
Have you tried putting a new bulb in.

Have you ever seen a street light that kept cycling on and off. Sometimes they start as a flicker. It's the high voltage that fires the bulb up,this also damages the bulb over time.

Good thing, it's easy to single out the problem. Replace the bulb, more than likely it's the bulb. If not, that only leaves ballast. It should still be under warranty, and they should replace it.

But the ticking sounds like bulb, when it gets hot.
 
Buckshot317 said:
Hope I explained it alright. But try bulb 1st. There's only 2 things it could be.

Hope ya get it fixed.
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I was considering that. The searching I've done has came up with the same solution. I was hoping someone had a diagnostic procedure to get around the trial and error replacement of parts (even though a spare bulb is a great asset to have lying around).
 
Buckshot317 said:
I've had 3 brand new MH bulbs, but only 1 worked lol.

I was stopping by to see if you got it straightened out yet. I always replaced bulbs after 2 grows, kept the old ones for backup.
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Thanks again for stopping by Buck to give advice...We used to re lamp the hockey arenas every two years...the lights lose a lot of efficiency over that period of time...cheerz...h00k...:Hookah:
 
Buckshot317 said:
I've had 3 brand new MH bulbs, but only 1 worked lol.

I was stopping by to see if you got it straightened out yet. I always replaced bulbs after 2 grows, kept the old ones for backup.
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The problem happened every month or so. My solution was immediately shut off the light, let it cool down, replace the timer and she always started back up without ticking. This time I did everything the same except I didn't use a timer. I figure if all other actions are constant and it goes back to normal (as it did this time) that maybe the ballast was overheating.

I felt the ballast with my hand and it was hot to the touch. I had a 4 inch fan that was halfway blowing on it before so I moved the fan to blow air directly down the ballast. Now it remains cool all the time, 24/7.

At this point it's a waiting game to see if that's the fix. I'll check back in another month or so and give an update. Thanks for stopping back by.
 
No more issues with the ballast pulsing the light EXCEPT when I was forced to close the closet for a period of time and the temps got between 88*f and 90*f.

In my situation it was a heat problem. I'm probably going to mount the ballast outside the closet to keep it cool and keep closet temps down. I'm assuming a lot of the heat in there is coming from the ballast alone.
 
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