S
smokestack23
- 438
- 18
I need a good guess if anyone has the time.
This morning I went into a flowering room and found that a 1K HPS bulb was blown. It's on a tracker and is powered by a mag ballast (not digital/electronic). So..it was this morning and I didn't have time to do a good inspection cause the room was shutting down but...
The bulb is black for about the bottom (non threaded end) third (vertically hung) and it looked like the arc tube had become detached from the bottom support. It wasn't hanging straight down the center of the bulb.
The bulb only had like 9 weeks of 12/12 on it...so like under 800 hours. The ballast was not new.
I realize that I should inspect the bulb further before asking for help but I have to wait a few more hours.
I don't have any extra 1K HPS bulbs...but...I have several 1K digi ballasts (HPS and MH) that came with HPS AND MH bulbs so what I CAN do is to try one of the HPS bulbs from one of my digi ballasts and just run a MH in the digi until I can get some new 1K HPS bulbs...BUT...I don't want to blow another new 1K hps bulb if it was the mag ballast that caused the bulb to blow.
What I SHOULD and will do is just order some HPS bulbs (need to have spares anyway...and am interested in maybe trying the SUN PULSE digi compatible bulbs) and I realize that I'm probably gonna have to bite the bullet and eventually screw-in a 1K hps and hope it doesn't blow..but without any backup, I don't want to risk losing another hps bulb till I get more.
So...my question is...and again..sorry to ask it without first inspecting the bulb and wiring and everything...what are the chances that the ballast caused the lamp to fail?
When a mag ballast "fails" should you be able to physically see a problem with it? Or smell a problem? You know...like some discoloration or burnt smell...?
Thanks for your educated guesses.
This morning I went into a flowering room and found that a 1K HPS bulb was blown. It's on a tracker and is powered by a mag ballast (not digital/electronic). So..it was this morning and I didn't have time to do a good inspection cause the room was shutting down but...
The bulb is black for about the bottom (non threaded end) third (vertically hung) and it looked like the arc tube had become detached from the bottom support. It wasn't hanging straight down the center of the bulb.
The bulb only had like 9 weeks of 12/12 on it...so like under 800 hours. The ballast was not new.
I realize that I should inspect the bulb further before asking for help but I have to wait a few more hours.
I don't have any extra 1K HPS bulbs...but...I have several 1K digi ballasts (HPS and MH) that came with HPS AND MH bulbs so what I CAN do is to try one of the HPS bulbs from one of my digi ballasts and just run a MH in the digi until I can get some new 1K HPS bulbs...BUT...I don't want to blow another new 1K hps bulb if it was the mag ballast that caused the bulb to blow.
What I SHOULD and will do is just order some HPS bulbs (need to have spares anyway...and am interested in maybe trying the SUN PULSE digi compatible bulbs) and I realize that I'm probably gonna have to bite the bullet and eventually screw-in a 1K hps and hope it doesn't blow..but without any backup, I don't want to risk losing another hps bulb till I get more.
So...my question is...and again..sorry to ask it without first inspecting the bulb and wiring and everything...what are the chances that the ballast caused the lamp to fail?
When a mag ballast "fails" should you be able to physically see a problem with it? Or smell a problem? You know...like some discoloration or burnt smell...?
Thanks for your educated guesses.