MH Bulb:Exploded View

[GeorgeSmiley]

eye Hort MH, six months of 24h light. Glad I had a sealed hood. Been told since that MH bulbs need a break every so many hours.

 

[foomar]

This bugger blew last night , face was two feet away and took some shrapnel , thankfully i wear glasses as there was easily enougth energy to blind.

Sounded very like a gunshot and nearly shit myself, glass mostly in tiny shards leaveing the plants very sparkly but will be hard to remove at harvest.

Was running fine for ten 12 hour cycles and failed with no visible or audible warning two hours after final startup.

The BAL 600 watt ballast was not affected but did NOT cut out and was still supplying current , old proven phillips now working fine.

Without prescription glasses , a thick beard and a woolly hat i could have ended up down casualty.

Only a moment before , Mrs Foomar was standing next to me and would have caught an unprotected face full , one of many over the years but not at 400 c .

Now in a cooltube for safety as i am around them a lot , could be an awkward insurance claim with fire or injury.

There was a huge number of tiny bits in the buds nearest , a few finger cuts when crumbling but no real damage.
The heaviest fragment would have contained enougth thermal energy to be a real fire risk in some dodgy setups i have seen

 

[BigDawg]

i got some regular 400 watt MH bulb thats been on 24/7 for over a year. Hasn't popped. Maybe this thread is a warning.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

nice ....... i wonder if they make a 20 amp model .... that one would be great for filters, fans and light movers. good post.... thanks

i wouldnt run alight off it... it would be a fire waiting to happen. well 1 light... not much else.

 

[Guest 150314]

^^^^ That is kinda cool, 4 outlets are timed, 4 are constant power, for 19.97.

Why would anyone rate that as "not helpful"??

only reason I could guess someone would rate it not helpful is that those timers are only rated for 1800 watts.

Noobs might plug 4 lights in?

I will stick with my digital intermatic timer and let the electrically inclined friend of mine wire my rooms.

That looks handy for a bunch of fans though..

 

[Phaeton]

I got a 'not helpful' once for mentioning Lowe's by name. Hardware must arouse hard feelings in some.

Home Depot, Lowe's. Chevrolet, Ford. Donkey, Elephant.

All depends on someone else's axe.

I worry about some of the less expensive HID's (Premium K85, $14), they are poorly made mechanically. The insides have ugly welds and sharp irregular edges. The no-light failure rate has run 1 in 10 during the first 40 hours of use out of a total of 22 used. But never has one blown up the arc tube.
Now I worry more.

 

[Iron_Lion]

I usually check on my growroom at lights-on every day.Today I overslept.When I went to the growroom my ballast was humming loudly and my 1000w Agrosun bulb was in pieces in my reflector.ALWAYS USE SAFETY GLASS WITH YOUR REFLECTORS!!!! This has been a public service message from camp Superstone.

Just to throw it out there, HPS and MH lamps contain mercury powder. Im not sure how healthy it is to smoke plants that were exposed.

 

[Superstone]

Thanks to everyone I'm learning alot about MH lamps and their weaknesses...I still insist on using them throughout flowering and have even more respect for them.Iron Lion,I don't have gills yet but I'll keep monitoring my health.I have no desire to ingest or share weed that is exposed to toxic heavy metal.Thanks for the heads up! Good thing there's some diesel around.

 

[BlindDate]

This happened to me using a 600 HPS on Lumatek ballast. Ran fine for months then one day I entered the room and a pond liner I had installed to protect the floor was melted full of holes, glass shards everywhere. Took me 4 hours to clean it up. The ballast was fine, the problem was with the bulb (hortilux). I've had lots of bulb failures in every brand over the years, but never one that burst. This was scary.

 

[MPL]

Dude I use that timer and love it. I don't have anything big pulling from it, only some fans and pumps, but it's rated for 15a continuous at 120v.

I personally cannot stand those "pin" timers. This is what I use.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[MPL]

I also use the biggest flame defender they make over my 1k tent. I got it for like $89 from my local hydroshop. This thing is genius and makes for super cheap insurance.

Flame defender is your friend.

 

[dj_greenthumb]

Makes me happy to have a smoke detector in my room, just in case.

 

[eyes]

makes me think the electronic ballasts are causing micro stress cracks in the bulbs that eventually lead to glass breakage/failure.

what ballasts are you using and how old are the bulbs?

 

[blazeoneup]

I've always wiped my bulbs down and made sure there are no finger prints or oils left on the bulbs. I also change my bulbs after 3 runs max. I've never used a bulb past 12 months.

I've never used digital ballast either. I been growing for around 12+ years used many many bulbs during that time. Never had a bulb explode.

I'm glad you didn't suffer a fire or any significant damage. Taking extra steps to insure safety in a grow room is well worth the time and effort.

 

[Bobby Stainless]

I've never used digital ballast either. I been growing for around 12+ years used many many bulbs during that time. Never had a bulb explode.

+1

Also a good idea to get a quality timer. dxhydro FTW!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Anyone else find the name "SolarBURST" appropriate? LOL




Have always cleaned lamps before installation. All lamp failures have been internal.

Stay Safe!

 

[sso]

damn i dont have the link, but funnily, the Original post, is exactly like a thread about this that made me paranoid about mh bulbs from a few years back.

the wording is pretty much same from what i remember and ive got a pretty good memory

coincidence?

the pic was pretty much the same too, though i cant recall clear enough to see if it was the same pic

 

[Superstone]

Anyone else find the name "SolarBURST" appropriate? LOL




Have always cleaned lamps before installation. All lamp failures have been internal.

Stay Safe!

Thanks for the heads up! I'll be avoiding that brand for sure!lol
Right now I'm using a 1k Hortilux mh and a 1k hps conversion bulb for flowering and a cheapo Lowes 400w mh for veg. Replaced all bulbs this round ...hoping that no molten glass and mercury will rain on my parade.One thing I've learned...when running a mh lamp 24/0 always give it at least a 15 minute break everyday.
I'm not paranoid about bulbs exploding...but my eyes have remained open since my mishap this past summer.
Wishing everyone a safe shard-free Holiday Season!!

 

[MPL]

That's a nice one. I ended up getting his Power Thief, great unit!

+1

Also a good idea to get a quality timer. dxhydro FTW!

 

[brownstormy]

Dude. It's rated resistive, not inductive. Not safe for lights.
I had one of these and its timer stopped working a few months in. And that was just driving tiny aquarium pumps and a cfl for my cloner.

Dude I use that timer and love it. I don't have anything big pulling from it, only some fans and pumps, but it's rated for 15a continuous at 120v.