HELP!!!!!!!

[ThePizzaMan]

D00ds

My hydrofarm Xtrasun ballast crapped out on me a few days ago...just stopped working..

Brought it to the hydro shop, and they were lucky enough to give me a loner. The loner ballast was checked, and was working properly when I took it. It worked last night...but tonight when I went in to my room..it was not working. The hum was very silent...and it is not lighting the light.

Now, I know absolutely nothing about electricity. MY friend says because I am using a 3 to 2 adapter...that I am doing them harm and that is the reason why they are not working...however I have been using the same ballast for like a year...and have never had any problem with it.

I have a 600w Quantum ballast just sitting here...but I am so afraid to use it...however I have a tent full...and I need to get them some light.

What would you do..anything ever happen to you like this?

PLEASE HELP!!!


TPM

 

[Zen Master]

a 3 to 2 adapter? as in you're bypassing the ground?

not smart


if you dont know how to work with electricity you shouldnt work with it because it can very well kill you.

mag ballasts last for YEARS, if you are breaking them in short order, somethin is up.

Usually when an older ballast craps out or stops working well, its the capacitor thats old and possibly faulty, a fairly cheap fix.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

OK...So my plan is to go to the grow store, tell them what happened...and get a 600w bulb. I really don't want this to happen again....is there anything I can do to prevent this. I am using walmart timers...I have one that has three holes..so I will use that...should I put a power strip somewhere on there to prevent shorting...

fuck

Im screwed

 

[Phaeton]

I love worst case senario's. Plug in type 3/2 adaptor? DIY adaptor? UL listed?

True story, young dumb grower put a lamp cord plug on his ballast, two prong lamp cord plug. Tested fine, I unplugged it and hung it on a metal rail with another light. Tried to plug it in again, worked the first time after all, melted the end of the plug off.
The case was hot, the coil was ground. 110v went from the case, up the chain, along the rail, and down the other chain to the properly grounded case of the second light.
A cord instead of a chain would have allowed everthing to work fine...unless both reflectors got adjusted at the same time.
Hmm...would I conduct enough electricity to pop the breaker?
I bought a wiring book to keep with my pliers.

 

[Zen Master]

OK...So my plan is to go to the grow store, tell them what happened...and get a 600w bulb. I really don't want this to happen again....is there anything I can do to prevent this. I am using walmart timers...I have one that has three holes..so I will use that...should I put a power strip somewhere on there to prevent shorting...

fuck

Im screwed

from the sound of it its the ballast or how you are connecting it, so why would you get a new bulb?

you can use a power strip but dont be plugging a ton of stuff in because it can overload your circuit or what your surge bar is rated for and cause problems still. A 600w shouldn't be tripping breakers so you should be fine in that dept.


it should go bulb>wire to ballast>wire from ballast to timer>timer plugged into surge bar or directly into the wall ideally.

 

[ThePizzaMan]

Zen Master...

because I have a 600 Digital ballast that I can use in the mean time while my other one gets fixed. It is a 600 watt..and I only have a 1000w bulb here at the moment. The thing was..is that it was not plugged in to a powerstrip...it went

wall>extension cord>timer>ballast

I have a 250 watt MH self enclosed that I think I can hang in there to overcome the next 48 hours..or if I can find a grow shop open on Sunday..which I think is hard to do.

I just want to make sure that if I hook this new ballast up...I don't destroy it. All of my other electronics in the house are ok..and the other lights in the room are ok as well.

What are the chances of two magnetic ballasts going belly up within 2 days of use...even though the one I got was a loner..and looked old as fuck..and was a repair model that someone did not pick up from them.

I have been here for 2 years now...and have not experienced these sort of problems before...the circuits do shut down from time to time...but that hasn't happened in a while. I am using this apartment electricity too the max..but all of my stuff has worked so far without hiccup.

I think god just hates me.

 

[stillsmokin843]

you said 3 to 2 conection does that mean your wall outlet not have a ground in it? if not there is a way to cheaply and easily turn it one with one short piece of wire. do you have another extension cord maybe yours is bad.not the most likely thing but check for shits and giggles if ya have a tester check the volts. also they make a plug that cost 5 to 10 bucks it has 3 lights on it it test the connections to make sure the plug is wired properly sometimes wires over long periods of times with excessive loads the screws can back out and have poor connections even in the breaker box.

 

[Zen Master]

lol on the god hatin part.

I had an apartment way back when that had ONE circuit breaker. I'd trip it if I turned on my microwave while my 1000w was running.

that might be a cause of some of the problems. If you're overloading it, as soon as the bulb tries to fire it'll trip(or not fire), if the bulb doesn't fire its not actually using that full draw, however the ballast might still hum(?) and run without trying to re-fire the bulb, sounds sorta like what you've got goin on.... not sure on that one however overloading your breakers isn't a good idea ever soooo...

check out how many breakers you have, plug in a low wattage simple device that you can have in each room and flip the different breakers so you know which circuit (if more than one) powers what part of each room.

if theres only one 15amp breaker total, a 1000w can be ran, however leaves no room for xbox, microwave, TV w/surround sound etc etc. at least not reliably.

You dont wan't to exceed 80% of a breakers total allowed amperage, so for a 15 amp/120v line (fairly normal size for one room) you would be maxing out at about 1440 watts total out of all of the outlets powered by that one breaker.


however, DO NOT USE EXTENSION CORDS!

they are not rated for use with continuous high draw appliances such as a grow light, thats a fire hazard (go feel the wire after its been running for a few hours, bet its pretty warm) a fan here or there is okay, grow light though? no, never.

My guess is that since everything else is fine electronically in your place, its gotta be with how it goes from the wall to bulb and whatever else you've got plugged in between. If you try the exact same outlet the light is plugged in with some other appliance, does it work just fine? If so then you should get that ext. cord outa the picture asap and make sure every link from wall to bulb is actually rated to handle that much kWh.

I've melted timers before and its a serious fire hazard, gas lines and electricity can kill you or level a house so dont fuck with em if you aren't sure it can handle it. Don't skimp and get the cheaper timer to save a few bucks (I know ya got the 3 prong one now, still check its max capacity and dont push that #), do it right or don't do it when it comes to electricity.


try the 250w, no extension cord, straight into the wall, no timer, just to see if it works and stays working with no issues. If thats a go, than my guess is you are overloading the breaker potentially with the 1000w and a 600w digi ballast with a new bulb might be just the fix...

 

[ThePizzaMan]

OK, well I went out and had a drink with some friends. Ate some Ice cream to calm my nerves. I have the 250w in there now...severely underlighted...but will have to do until I get to the grow store. I hope they aren't pissed about the loner ballast...they are a dealer...I really hope they don't make me pay for it. lol

Anyway..I really hope I can keep using a 1000w during the night in here..I have a 5X5 tent..and have just started to use all of the space up...figures.

I will let you know how the 600 and 1ooow ballast work out. I will keep you all updated.

Pray for me.

 

[stillsmokin843]

best of luck bro hope it all works out for the best

 

[ThePizzaMan]

So yeah, I had my first DIY electrical experience today. I upgraded one of the outlets in my room to a GFCI. I will only be running my lights on this outlet.

Quick questions..is it safe to run my 1000w and 600w off of this one outlet. I will need two timers...so should I just get one big surge protector and run the timers on that? Anyone running two or more lights off of one circuit? How do you manage it..and what setup do you have.

Should I upgrade my walmart timers? Any suggestions?

I still have the 250 in my 5X5..I should be getting the 1000w ballast back any day now.

Thanks for all the help fellas...

And yeah..I bought an analog voltmeter..and tested to see if the outlet box was grounded..and it was...so I put a green wire from the box to the gfci...I hope this makes things better.

Love you guys!

TPM

 

[nukklehead]

So yeah, I had my first DIY electrical experience today. I upgraded one of the outlets in my room to a GFCI. I will only be running my lights on this outlet.

Quick questions..is it safe to run my 1000w and 600w off of this one outlet. I will need two timers...so should I just get one big surge protector and run the timers on that? Anyone running two or more lights off of one circuit? How do you manage it..and what setup do you have.

Should I upgrade my walmart timers? Any suggestions?

I still have the 250 in my 5X5..I should be getting the 1000w ballast back any day now.

Thanks for all the help fellas...

And yeah..I bought an analog voltmeter..and tested to see if the outlet box was grounded..and it was...so I put a green wire from the box to the gfci...I hope this makes things better.

Love you guys!

TPM

dude you gotta know what that 1k and 6oo are running off of. You at least need a 20 amp fuse at the box and 12/2 wire to run that shit safely and thats if the ballasts are the only thing on that circuit.
Sorry to say but if you are running 15 amp 14/2 wire for the 1k and 600 you are overloaded.

 

[RomulusUSA]

Quick questions..is it safe to run my 1000w and 600w off of this one outlet. I will need two timers...so should I just get one big surge protector and run the timers on that? Anyone running two or more lights off of one circuit? How do you manage it..and what setup do you have.

NO. That is roughly 1600w, if not more like 1700-1800w. Your 15amp circuit can support ~1800w @ 100%, but we DO NOT run it at 100%, we run at 80%. If you run both lights, you WILL have issues. Perhaps that is why you are having issues now. Were you running both lights at the same time before? Did we not understand that?!

 

[Granger2]

Pizza,
Total the amps that everything on the circuit draws, and it should not exceed 80% of the breaker amps. If you have a 15 amp breaker, that would be no more than 12 amps.

For the hell of it. Double check your timers to be sure you don't have another program set up that conflicts with the program you want. (re: Hal 9000). Good Luck. -granger

 

[Zen Master]

12 amps x 120volt line = 1440watts.


take the "can I run this much?" number of watts, divide by 120, if that number is over 80% of your circuit breakers rated load (for amps), its too much.


also ya can't just switch out a new breaker because you need certain gauge wiring to handle a higher load that lets say a 20 amp breaker could handle...

if you do have a 20 amp breaker AND the proper gauge wire from panel to outlet, you could run both the 1000w and the 600w

 

[Mr Eckted]

You shouldn't bypass ground, it's dangerous, but that wouldn't be causing your issues. It sounds like you're having issues with cheap parts, faulty wiring, or unreliable service frequency.

Are you in a major urban centre, or more rural?