Keep blowing bulbs

[yamaha_1fan]

I am running Growbright 1000w HPS bulbs from HGT. I have blown 3 so far.

1st was my fault, I was connecting one wire while it was live and I guess the rapid on/off while I was connecting it, blew the bulb.

2nd bulb just stopped working one day. Came in and it was gone. No visible defects or any signs of it being blown. Put another bulb in and it worked fine. This was about a week ago. This is on hood #1

3rd bulb blew in the last couple days. From the base/socket, you can see where it shot out some silver looking residue inside the bulb. Put another bulb in, works fine. This is on hood #2

Am I just unlucky? The 2nd two were on different ballasts so I doubt its a ballast issue. Is it possible the air is too cold thats coming through the hoods? Its being pulled from another room, maybe at worst, in the 50's. The fan comes on when the room hits 75ish so the bulbs would be pretty hot at that point. I am running Romex 12/2 w/ground from the ballast to the hoods

Is it possible there is a power issue with 3 lamps turning on at the same time? I am running a 100 amp sub panel and 4 lights have a 30 amp circuit while 5 lights have a 30 amp circuit. All are running 240. AT this point, only the 3 lamps are running though, the rest are off as theres no plants under them.

I dont know if I am unlucky or if there is something else going on. HGT has been great on the first 2 bulbs. I have not told them of the 3rd one yet, I am starting to feel like an ass

 

[upgradeshafted]

surge induced bulb failure im sure...i had surges in my last spot and after a few bulbs i just moved lol...might i suggest setting your timers for your lights 5 mins apart so they dont all fire up at the same time

 

[yamaha_1fan]

Any other ideas here? I just blew a 4th bulb, its all white on the inside. This is on hood #1. I only have 3 hoods running now, whats going to happen when I have all 9 running???

 

[upgradeshafted]

i would call a electrician..if you want a large grow in that spot...next time it mite be the house that goes up instead of the bulb blowing...just my humble opinion...you are doing the same thing and expecting a different result which is the definition of insanity...peace

 

[texasluv]

I'm 99% sure its the bulbs, not the ballast or wiring. I bought a couple Grow Bright bulbs from HTG and they did the same thing. I'd get about 1-3 months out of them before they blew or just went bad. I ordered 3 bulbs and all of them were broken within a 90 day period. HTG was very supportive throughout the whole ordeal but I just gave up and bought Hortilux bulbs at the hydro store for 2x the price.

 

[InjectTruth]

I had problems recently with the growbright 600 hps with his digi ballast setup. Apparently, the bulbs are a little different than normal HPS, so the digi pops em out early.

He sent me his agromax style bulbs as replacements.

 

[Haps]

I never fire two K's at the same time, just as a precautionary policy. You can certainly try changing that, and see if it stops the carnage. Good luck, that just sucks man.
H

 

[yamaha_1fan]

I never fire two K's at the same time, just as a precautionary policy. You can certainly try changing that, and see if it stops the carnage. Good luck, that just sucks man.
H

What do you mean by that? Do you mean you dont run more than 1K or you just dont start them at the same time? Starting them individually would be possible but a PITA and require some changes to the setup to add 9 timers, outlets etc.

Plus this last bulb blew well after lights went on. Lights go on at 11PM and it was about 8AM when I went in and saw the bulb blown. The bulb was still warm when I removed it so it had blown recently, well after the startup.

The last replacement bulb I got was an agromax too.

Upgrade, what does an electrician have to do with anything? Theres a 100 amp sub-panel running the grow, with the lights on 2 30A circuits @ 240V. Theres plenty of power to run these.

Looks like these bulbs have some issues

 

[SoEx]

What do you mean by that? Do you mean you dont run more than 1K or you just dont start them at the same time? Starting them individually would be possible but a PITA and require some changes to the setup to add 9 timers, outlets etc.

Plus this last bulb blew well after lights went on. Lights go on at 11PM and it was about 8AM when I went in and saw the bulb blown. The bulb was still warm when I removed it so it had blown recently, well after the startup.

The last replacement bulb I got was an agromax too.

Upgrade, what does an electrician have to do with anything? Theres a 100 amp sub-panel running the grow, with the lights on 2 30A circuits @ 240V. Theres plenty of power to run these.

Looks like these bulbs have some issues

I believe his suggestion about an electrician was to investigate any issues with the house's wiring or something to that extent. Another "electrical" possibility being that the power company is giving you power that is a little too "dirty" (non uniform, voltage drops/surges) and this is stressing your equipment.

I'm not saying that's what it is, I'm just trying to explain a bit more on how electricity comes into play in more ways than just making sure you have high-enough rated amperage wiring and such.

I, personally, have no clue what the problem might be, but just wanted to toss that out there. Good luck and hope the bulbs stop blowing, that can add up to a decent amount of $$!

 

[texasluv]

The problem is the uber-cheap Grow Bright crappy bulbs. I had a few and every single one was garbage.