Digital Ballasts & Surge Protectors

[onthaherb]

So I look in my room and notice one of two 1000w is off. Took it to the store for testing and they confirmed that it is dead (immediately blows the new fuses). So I replaced the ballast, that was yesterday, and today I woke up to find that the one I didn't replace has done the exact same thing!

Both were connected straight to the wall with a 50ft 8gauge extention each and each had its own Oracle single-outlet digital timer. Now I've got two fresh ballasts but I want to know why this happened -- both are running fine now and now I've added a fire safe surge protector to the beginning of each extension.

What's going on here... will this change remedy the problem?

 

[OldSSSCGuy]

Might be too late to check, but the 2 original ballasts might have been from the same production run - and had the exact same point of failure. Maybe that day someone was soldering cold, or making the same connector mistake, or using bad connectors from the same box, etc.

Did you open either of them to look for obvious damage or problems?

 

[onthaherb]

Oh yes I forgot to mention in the original post, these ballasts were purchased at completely different times/places so I would think that is unlikely. I did not open them as to not void the warranty, but when we put in the new fuse it would fire for a second, pop, and give off a nice little plastic burning smell.

 

[watts]

was there a storm or anything? tripp lite makes good surge protectors

 

[dansbuds]

Its hard to say why it happened or if the surge protectors will help without know exactly what happened to the ballasts . but the surge protector can't hurt the situation . you do get high & low spikes of power from the poles at certain times of the year or during storms . & the SP's will help with that .

 

[onthaherb]

Absolutely no storm, hell I don't think I've seen lightning since I moved here. Keeping my fingers crossed, I'm leaving for a few days and chopping isn't really an option.

Would it make any sense/difference where I put the surge, at the wall or ballast to surge direct with the surge on the extension?

 

[the gnome]

when did you add the oracle digi timer? [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]




[/FONT]

 

[onthaherb]

Right now its surge->50ft->oracle->ballast

 

[the gnome]

EDITED: sorry, thought the bulbs were blowing, not ballasts.
still something everyone should read below using digi timers w/digi ballasts

so when did you add the digital timer with that digital ballast?

those type of single and dual outlet type digi timer like yours shouldn't be used with
digi ballasts,
warnings are now coming out on the timer info area now.

i got a new timer like yours, a titan apollo along with a new 1000w Mh bulb.
set the timer and next morning the bulb was off, check everything and the bulb blew.
luck it was new, i sent the bulb back and got a new one.
something that allows the electricity to slam into the bulb and blow it.

not sure if it does it to all bulbs or now.
i have a few old bulbs for temporary back up, I'm going to try it again.


here's the listing on a titan apollo timer

The Apollo 8™ - 24 hour programmable timer is the perfect timing solution for your hydro systems. With two outlets and a 15 amp capacity, it’s easy to set to run your lights, pumps, fans, etc. The Apollo 8™ has 96 non-detachable 15 minute trippers and can be configured in numerous timing schedules to meet the most demanding timing requirements.

Two (2) outlets.
15 minute intervals.
Heavy duty construction.
Easy to use & simple to operate.
Plastic enclosure resists dust and moisture.
Do not use with electronic ballasts.
Runs lights, pumps, fans, etc.
15 Amps/120 Volts/60 Hz./1800 Watts.

 

[onthaherb]

interesting about the timers gnome! still trying to figure this out, any input is appreciated