WTF? after 4 mos at an absolute loss

[greenmatter]

sounds like loose wires or a bad breaker (the breaker heats up and cuts power but does not trip) when it cools down you got power again until it heats up. you may have a bad outlet that your circuit is daisy chained through that would do the same thing. does your house have aluminum wiring? if so go through and "pigtail" everything on the circuit with copper. aluminum wiring is nothing to panic about, the only real problem with it is at the connections (expansion/contraction and oxidation) which you can fix pretty easy.

DO NOT put a larger fuse or breaker on that line unless you really know what you are doing! that is not your issue anyway

 

[zen_trikester]

Okay so seems my first step is to test the outlets for a voltage drop. Will a multimeter and 3 prong outlet outlet tester w/gfi tester bring me to the same conclusion? Some more info based on questions in the responses: the problem was actually with my washer, it wasn't a power issue just didn't clean well. The house was built after 2000, I did have one outlet installed prior to setting everything up, but that's not the one im using for the ballast (same circuit I believe), this setup did run fine for a year before I had any problems. Im not sure about my proximity to the electric company transformer. Thanks for the help so far, ill test and post an update

in order for a multimeter test to tell you anything you need to know what normal is for voltage and wether or not it normally drops when a 600 watt ballast is turned on and then know if your data is from a house of the same amperage, and other variables like age or guage of wires may make a difference. Somebody here may very well have that info or a sparky may be able to tell you what to look for in that regard. The outlet tester will work well for you though and it is cheap. Start at the offending outlet and work your way back to the box. First know which breaker it is on, then hit the gfi trip button and if the breaker doesn't pop you have another breaker in the circuit such as a gfi outlet. If it goes straight to the breaker in the box then you have to test each outlet on that circuit until you find one that is OK. Actually, you may test other outlets that are on different circuits throughout your home to make sure that it isn't a problem at the main.

Sombody also said a half tripped breaker, and that could be what is going on too. That all being said, if you are smelling burning that is a really bad thing and calling a sparky right away would certainly be the safest bet. If the smell is coming from an outlet, then worry a lot and turn that circuit off until a sparky comes over to look.

Good luck

 

[zen_trikester]

Also, since this is intermittent you may need to plug the tester/meter in and watch it for signs of the problem you are seeing with your ballast. This may be a six pack and a bowl of corndoodles kind of testing procedure!

 

[Stay Puft]

Hi,
I may be being dumb here... and you may have tried already.
Have you tried unplugging the dryer and washer and test again.before you spend money on a sparky?
{You said the problems started when you got the new drier)

 

[megayields]

You and me both bro. I don't know much about electricity, but I do know that if you use paragraphs, you'll get a lot more responses. Good luck to you sir.

OK this made me laugh..thank you!

 

[gembob]

Yeah its been tried on different circuits and when the washer and dryer were unplugged. 2 600 watters have had the same problem, one fresh out of the box, the 400 was the only one that stayed on for any amount of time. I think I'm going to call someone to come in, I don't know anything about electrical stuff and don't want to make things worse. Thanks for the help.

 

[greenmatter]

Yeah its been tried on different circuits and when the washer and dryer were unplugged. 2 600 watters have had the same problem, one fresh out of the box, the 400 was the only one that stayed on for any amount of time. I think I'm going to call someone to come in, I don't know anything about electrical stuff and don't want to make things worse. Thanks for the help.

if that is the case you do need a pro. do you get any "flicker" on the other lights in the house when your grow lights go out or turn on?

 

[Wise]

Get a new ballast. End of story.

 

[supersmallgiant]

Get a new ballast. End of story.

Some one needs to read a bit more carefully...

 

[gembob]

No flicker on anything else, when the problem first started the light was on the same power strip as one of the fans and the fan fired right up and stayed on every time while the light would turn off

 

[imnotkrazy]

With your wiring gremlins gembob, I think I would try a skylight into the growroom supplemented by cfl.

 

[Scrappy-doo]

You and me both bro. I don't know much about electricity, but I do know that if you use paragraphs, you'll get a lot more responses. Good luck to you sir.

I concur 100%. No offense, but I only read the first 2 sentences and realized that reading the rest would be a chore.

So no advice on your situation, but in the future it's good to realize that multiple small paragraphs are much easier to read and you'll get more responses.

Good luck.

 

[Stay Puft]

so... Did the sparky find out WTF?
If you would explain what the problem was in one big ole run-on sentence that would be fine with me. ( I am more into function than form)