? regarding rebuild of mag ballast/switchable

[nukklehead]

Have a 1k sun system bout 5 y/o.. not willing to convert to digi ( this is not the forum for that argument...lol) she is switchable mh/hps and has served me well. Had an old 400 that wore out, I broke er open and replaced the capacitor ( I know what they are capable of.. lol) and gave her to a buddy who continues to use er....mostly for backup...

So as you can see I am fairly confident in my mechanical aptitude...lol
Havent broken open the ole ironside yet but will soon. Question is if
anyone has done this.... Is there only one (replaceable) capacitor? on a switchable ballast? Not afraid, just dont want to be surprised in what I am getting in to. Plan on replacing the ignitor and capacitor and given er a good clean out. Is there any other significant parts that
should be replaced in a tune up???

Feel like Im running an ole muscle car. These new young uns( digis) have no soul........lol

Any suggestions appreciated by ole mag users

 

[nukklehead]

bump .. hate to do that.....but no ole electrician/mechanics round here?????

 

[rives]

Switchable mag's have two capacitors, from what I have seen. The values together are appropriate for one lamp, and only one is used for the other. If I recall correctly, they are different values. I would replace them both.

 

[nukklehead]

thanks rives.. i suspected that

 

[Marquis de Sod]

well so much for getting any help around here. fwiw my Sunlight (Vancouver WA) ballast has one cap and one ignitor. i will call them. i need an ignitor i think, might be the cap tho. how to tell? wtfk?

 

[dansbuds]

It really doesn't matter which one is bad .... If 1 is bad your better off replacing them both . or your going to be opening it again soon to replace the parts you didn't in the first place .

think of like a car .... you gonna replace the brakes on 1 wheel or both sides ?

pull the cover off the ballast , take #'s off all the componants & do a google search to find the cheepest replacement parts .

 

[Marquis de Sod]

i hope you are speaking from personal experience?
i went to sunshines site and they list only complete ballast repair kits and no caps or ignitors, so that lends some credence to what you say. they only sell to dealers but they have a search engine for that and i got three in town. i didnt price the whole rebuild kits to see if it's cheaper than buying them one at a time but they usually are.

 

[Hammerhead]

If it's a switchable ballast. put the switch on MH. If its auto switchable the ignitor will need to be removed from the circuit. Install a MH bulb of the wattage needed. If the bulb fires up a MH and not the HPS Bulb the Ignitor is bad.. Since both are fairly cheep just replace both the cap/Ignitor

 

[dansbuds]

i hope you are speaking from personal experience?
i went to sunshines site and they list only complete ballast repair kits and no caps or ignitors, so that lends some credence to what you say. they only sell to dealers but they have a search engine for that and i got three in town. i didnt price the whole rebuild kits to see if it's cheaper than buying them one at a time but they usually are.

Yes I am . there are a ton of sites that sell just caps & ingnitors & even full ballast kits ..... google is yer friend

If you have a Graingers near you .... they have everything you'd need .I just bought a capisitor from them for my 400hps & they had to order it & when i went to pick it up they had the wrong one .... so they went in back , pulled one from a fixture & gave it to me for free cuz they fuk'd up

 

[Marquis de Sod]

right fucking on Hammerhead shark. i will try that and then i will know if my ignitor is bad, as they sell them seperately. But you agree with Dan on changing them both? well, thats what you said anyway. i might as well get them one at a time as the only other alternative to buy more than one, at least from the website, is to buy a cap, transformer and ignitor, all three.

didn't see your post dan. it was no sweat taking the ballast apart, i'm gonna get the one down the street. $42 just for the ignitor tho. but i am gonna put it back together first so i dont piss away $42 on something i don't need (yet).

HAHAHA actually realized i dont have to put anything back together to test it as all the wires are still connected

well crap. you seen that comin, right? it was on MH, which didnt mean anything with all the tearing apart. but when i put in a MH bulb and plugged it in it didn't lite.

so per your hammer-time test, i need a CAP. and according to the both o'youse, i need to go get both. if i had the dough i would!

but hey! been a master electrician for over six years an you just schooled my ass, so hat off and a big bow! YOU ROCK!

 

[Hammerhead]

Here I just did a quick google

http://www.wormsway.com/product_cat.aspx?cat=LITP

http://www.lightstoreusa.com/department/lighting-ballasts-19.cfm

 

[Marquis de Sod]

wow dude that first site is HALF of what Northern Lights wants for their ignitor, and i would presume the same goes for their caps. shit, sux to be in a hurry all the time.

only one correction to my post, that sunlight site does sell individual components http://www.sunlightsupply.com/

 

[growshopfrank]

I have seen the mh/hps switch FU on these ballasts before so get your multimeter out and check it for continuity.

 

[Marquis de Sod]

Jeezis DansBuds, you got some kind of crystal ball or what? i spent hours f'ing with that thing. got the $40 cap in and both lights lit up fine for the first few seconds so thought i had it dicked. then when i set it back up the HPS would only come on with about 250W of power. i turned off five minutes, put on MH and tried again with same result. Changed bulbs, pulled back apart, checked wires, cant check voltage cause my meter only good up to 600V. when last i had on, the MH went on to about 250W range, then when i went back to check it was almost completely DEAD! all i can do now is try that switch GROWSHOP just mentioned and see WTF!!!! (even tho it seems to me that it can't be that because both the mh and hps lamps failed). yeah, switch is good. seems to me the transformers shot now. mystifies me cause i figured i'd have to smell burnt up insulation or glue or something, but there just aint no smell to it at all.

what REALLY PISSES ME OFF is that when i first pulled off the cover, you could see that the cap had swelled up on top so it was obviously bad! looked like changin it out was a no brainer! (right up my alley). BUT NO!

THIS IS why i dont know about these fucking things after being in contracting for 6 years, if i tried to bill a customer for all my time spent fucking with this cocksucker, they could have bought three new ones by now!!!!! FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUCCCKK!

 

[rives]

You should be able to check the transformer with a 600v meter with no problem. Pull the ignitor and the cap out of the circuit, and you will eliminate the high voltage starting pulse - the lamp should run at 250v.

 

[Marquis de Sod]

oh yeah DUH! Its 1000 watts, not volts! i dont have 240 outlets in there tho. it's shot tho, it's the only part left. bet a new txr is as much as a new ballast. hey thanks for the wake up call tho! rives. (uh, after price check, Northern lights will take back the cap!!!!!! and sell me a new 1000W ballast for that $40 plus another $110! crap, i CANT pass that up!) thanks to all for help on this. great diagrams and advice from great peeps!

 

[growshopfrank]

link to HID ballast troubleshooting guide
http://www.hydroponics.net/productdocs/HID_Pocket_Guide.pdf