Strange light failure, don't understand how it can do this.

[KarlJay]

Some might remember my setup and trying to get a constant harvest every month or so.

I decided to make my veg room into a flower room and use the drying / curing room as the veg room.

So, I bought 2 more of the same 600W HPS lights. Set them up and they were running MH for a while, switched over to HPS bulbs and one of them didn't come on.

I tested the bulb, the bulb works fine, switched the ballasts to see if it was the ballast or not. It's the ballasts.

It currently runs the MH bulb but NOT the HPS bulb (both are the same wattage)

Strange!

Called the supplier and he's going to replace the ballast. Pretty high failure rate, bought 6 lights and 2 failed. And one of the cool tubes are cracked (he's going to replace that too).

Otherwise the grow is going pretty well, having 2 full size flower rooms is really going to solve the space problem.

 

[nibec]

sounds like the ballast isnt recognizing the HPS, and isnt striking the ignitor. Im assuming its a digital ballast that switches between MH and HPS.

never put a MH bulb on a HPS ballast if its not switchable. it will try to ignite it, and you're in for a potential disaster.

typically putting a HPS ona MH ballast wont typicaly cause issues, it will just draw electricity and never turn the light on. not sure how hard it is on the ballast however. i assume it will eventually burn it out.

also make sure if your HPS is lit, and you turn it off, make sure you give it a cool down time of roughly 30 min before attempting to restart it. its hard on the ballast if the ignitor sits there trying to fire it up for 30 min with no success. think about trying to start an engine with no gas. its hard on the battery/starter. engine (bulb) should be fine, but ballast (starter) will wear out quickly if done all the time.

 

[KarlJay]

Good info nibec! You're right, it is an autoswitch HPS/MH. I have 6 of the same and never seen this problem with any of the others.

I got the replacement in the mail, it works just as the others do.

I know these Apollo systems aren't the 1st rate big name setups, but I do have to say they work well. At $160 for a complete setup, it's the best deal I've found yet.

Apollo was excellent in handling the 2 problems I've had. The cool tube is about as cheap as you can get, but otherwise, I'm happy with the systems.

 

[nibec]

in terms of equipment, just because it has a huge price doesnt always mean it will be better. however typically, the higher price ones are typically due to being a solid "brand name" which typically will mean that they have been in the buisness a long time, and have "perfected" their system. you can NORMALLY expect low failure rate, and long life.

of course, there are quite a few high price systems out there, that are pretty much paper weights. i wont name any names, but its good to do your research on any equipment before making a purchase.

the fact you say you run 6, and they replaced your faulty ones without hassle indicates to me you made a good investment.