That's awesome! Should be a good day then. That last ballast was definitely more than a little screwy!
Went up last night after the new ballast had been on a few hours. It wasn't good. The room was thick with a burning plastic/chemical smell. The room was hazey with the fumes like a thin smoke. It gave me a headache just being in the room for a minute or 2. I opened the tent and I could see the haze in there even more with the light on. I got paranoid about the affect on the plants.
I mean if a tent off gassing can harm the plants this stuff would surely mess them up. The ballast was super hot. I've owned 3 ballasts over the years so I know to expect heat but this was stupid hot. My 400w ballast is metal but I can still pick it up when it's hot. Not this plastic one.
Anyway I turned it all off and opened all the windows on that floor. Reconnected the 400w now as I'm scared. I sleep in same room as my tent I couldn't risk it....
So I've spoke to the seller and he's happy to give me a refund and says that plastic smell Is normal for a new ballast?
Really? I don't know how to go on from here. Do I keep it or send it back?
I got it super cheap in an eBay auction so I'm not even worried about getting a refund. I just don't want to wake up dead one morning.
Oh yeah the predators have arrived and so has my new ballast.
Glad to hear the predators arrived safely to you
What brand was the ballast you were having problems with? Was it one of those cheap £60 Maxibright ballasts with the plastic casing and did you buy it new? If so that smell is normal for the first day or two, i think its from oil on the parts inside when the ballast gets warm, the smell goes away after a day two, i usualy just have a fan blowing on the board the ballasts fixed to, to keep them cool. Ive bought over 10 of those maxi ballasts brand new and its been the same with all of them, nothing to stress over, never had any other issues with them either.
Yep them lumi ballasts are dangerous! How's the girls looking alas?
Could be iron.. In ur case trace mix would b beneficial
Yes that's the one chap.
Got some pics of those spots?
Looks like calcium spots. I know you said you tried more calmag....did you ever try cutting back on actual nute strength? I'll get leaves like that starting in mid flowering if I'm running my nutes a little strong. They start to lock out calcium. The rust dots always start out on the leaf veins.
It can be frustrating as hell trying to solve a plant problem. The symptoms come on so fast but when the solution to the problem is applied, the results are slow! Lol. So pretty much, you really dont know if you solved the problem alot of times until the next grow.
I dealt with your problem for many years before I figured out what worked for me. So I'm here to troubleshoot with ya if you want at any time.