I need Metal Halide help

[smartie2000]

My MH light is not turning on properly and today it just did not turn on. I don't know what happened. It started three days ago, when the automatic timer did not turn it on. But I would get them to turn on by unplugging the energy input and then replugging it and that was enough to spark it on.

So today it did not turn on at all. Instead it gives an occasional flicker. I changed the bulb and it is the same. I am currently using a digital ballast and it is a 400W one. The bulb is a edison screw one. I'm not sure what part is broken and needs replacement. I did find a small crack on the ceramic part of the socket, I'm not sure if this is causing the issue or how significant it really is. What does this ceramic piece do?

Any help is appreciated! I need to be educated on how these things work. I hope that it is not the digital ballast that is broken.

Right now I just put a high pressure sodium fixture on the ground so that the plants get something at least. This fixture is at least five times as heavy (since the ballast is attached) and I would need to take different measures to hang it. I would prefer not to replace with this lamp permanently (HPS is not preferable anyway as the only souce of light). I have so much going on I have a head ache right now.:crazy:

 

[Candace]

Do you have a spare bulb to make sure that it's not the bulb on its last legs? Unfortunately, I think many light problems do go back to the ballast.

 

[smartie2000]

Thanks for the reply. I tried three different bulbs and none of them worked. One old, one new and the current one.

If I need to I might get this ballast. Cheapish:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300370169648&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en
If I buy today, eBay has a promotion giving me $10 off. I know $10 doesn't buy much anymore, but I am trying to save money right now.

I believe I had this ballast before. It say they offer a 3 year warantee, but I don't know if that applied for me at the time of my purchase. I was not given and did not fill out any warantee form. I will check that out later.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/400W-400-WATT-DIGITAL-GROW-BALLAST-MH-HPS-120-240V_W0QQitemZ380184162980QQihZ025QQcategoryZ43555QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26ps%3D6

 

[Candace]

It won't hurt to see if they'll replace it. Good luck.

 

[Jim Toomey]

Hate to say it... but it does sound like the ballast.
Check your reseller if nothing else they can give you a contact number and maybe someone's name to talk to, maybe they can walk you through trouble shooting it?

 

[Ernie]

Try asking HTG (High Tech Garden Supply) for help http://www.htgsupply.com/about.asp
Our MH is from them and they helped trouble shoot a ballast problem that meant a quick, inexpensive repair instead of replacement. Our issue was the capacitor, but it's not an e-ballast.

-Ernie

 

[GaryB]

My MH light is not turning on properly and today it just did not turn on. I don't know what happened. It started three days ago, when the automatic timer did not turn it on. But I would get them to turn on by unplugging the energy input and then replugging it and that was enough to spark it on.

So today it did not turn on at all. Instead it gives an occasional flicker. I changed the bulb and it is the same. I am currently using a digital ballast and it is a 400W one. The bulb is a edison screw one. I'm not sure what part is broken and needs replacement. I did find a small crack on the ceramic part of the socket, I'm not sure if this is causing the issue or how significant it really is. What does this ceramic piece do?

The ceramic socket is an insulator, so a crack isn't going to prevent the bulb from lighting. My experience has been, that flickering indicates that the bulb has reach end of life and, sure enough, in a few days it's done.

Were you able to verify that the other bulbs are good? Such as a friend with another fixture you can test them in. While it's unlikely all three are bad, it's best to know for sure before you buy another ballast.

If you do buy another ballast, I like and use the Lumatek brand. More expensive than the ones had linked, but come with a 5 year warrenty.

 

[luvsorchids]

Try asking HTG (High Tech Garden Supply) for help http://www.htgsupply.com/about.asp
Our MH is from them and they helped trouble shoot a ballast problem that meant a quick, inexpensive repair instead of replacement. Our issue was the capacitor, but it's not an e-ballast.

-Ernie

I can vouch for HTGs customer service. Contacted them yesterday about 2 red T5 HO bulbs that started flickering after only about 6 months of use. They are sending replacement bulbs no questions asked.

Susan

 

[Paphman910]

Digital ballast has a high failure rate and it is good to get one with 5 year warranty. You can't repair them yourself since they are encased in epoxy. I would buy a named brand digital ballast such as Lumatek.

They are made in china and quality do vary!

Paphman910

 

[smartie2000]

Thanks for the replys!

I tried something different that I forgot about. I put a HPS bulb into the fixture and it is working with this bulb. (Digitals can switch between them two types) But HPS is definitly not as bright as the MH bulb. And I think my PL fixture (on the floor) with a non-digital ballast is brighter, though the reflector is much better (this was a used fixture. Non-digital ballasts are not supposed to be brighter).

Cheap stuff = failure. (no suprise)

Stuff are in bud and sheath. Maybe it is a good idea to switch to HPS to encourage blooming? I wanted to hang the spare PL fixture this Christmas anyway, so that it can suppliment the red range of light colours for two hours or so. I am moving the budded plants to windowsill. I usually wait until they are in high bud since it keeps the stems straight.

One thing maybe worth mentioning. Ditgal Ballasts tend to have trouble starting MH depending on the brand of the MH bulb according to the web (or something like that). I don't think this is my case since my ballast has been operating these bulbs before.

 

[smartie2000]

Were you able to verify that the other bulbs are good? Such as a friend with another fixture you can test them in. While it's unlikely all three are bad, it's best to know for sure before you buy another ballast.

If you do buy another ballast, I like and use the Lumatek brand. More expensive than the ones had linked, but come with a 5 year warrenty.

I haven't been able to check the bulbs yet. Most of the growers I know use greenhouse, windowsill or solarium. but there must be someone at my society with MH, who I don't know.

Digital ballast has a high failure rate and it is good to get one with 5 year warranty. You can't repair them yourself since they are encased in epoxy. I would buy a named brand digital ballast such as Lumatek.

They are made in china and quality do vary!

Paphman910

Thanks, Lumatek is quoted all over the web and likely worth using.

 

[penangirl]

brown out cooks 1 lumatek 400w ballast and 1 2lamp t554w ballast

last week in the middle of the day my main 400w lumatek ballast and 1 of two two lamp t5 54watt flouresant ballast burnt out/stopped working.
i was home and didnt even notice the fluctuation, my lcd hdtw and surround sound worked fine rite through,\
this is the second lumatek ballast that i burned out in the last 3 years, i was told to send it back to the retailer and they will try to get me a replacement from lumatek.great!
A week later all ballasts are replaced and working great.
it leaves me with one question.what is your opinion mh or hps. i am growing primarily paphs, mostly parvis with a bunch of large multiflorals.
the past year i have been running hortilux mh with good success,i am currently trying my solarmax hps. this fixture i guess u would call supplemental lighting because i have a eastern window exposure that gets great light through 11.am an filtered light the rest of the day. so i figure i dont need the complete spectrum of the mh. and maybe can push the bloom spectrums a little harder.
hps or mh thati s the question..

 

[Paphman910]

last week in the middle of the day my main 400w lumatek ballast and 1 of two two lamp t5 54watt flouresant ballast burnt out/stopped working.
i was home and didnt even notice the fluctuation, my lcd hdtw and surround sound worked fine rite through,\
this is the second lumatek ballast that i burned out in the last 3 years, i was told to send it back to the retailer and they will try to get me a replacement from lumatek.great!
A week later all ballasts are replaced and working great.
it leaves me with one question.what is your opinion mh or hps. i am growing primarily paphs, mostly parvis with a bunch of large multiflorals.
the past year i have been running hortilux mh with good success,i am currently trying my solarmax hps. this fixture i guess u would call supplemental lighting because i have a eastern window exposure that gets great light through 11.am an filtered light the rest of the day. so i figure i dont need the complete spectrum of the mh. and maybe can push the bloom spectrums a little harder.
hps or mh thati s the question..

Metal Halide is my preferred light type as it is not yellow! Hate the yellow since I grow it indoors!

Metal Halide is great for vegetative growth and the paphs flowers fine! I am currently growing Paph stonei under it!

My experience is that growing it under Son Agro HPS(Has blue spectrum added), the multifloral paphs grow well for the first year and then suddenly the new leaves elongates which suggest that it lacks blue light. The HPS bulb light output decreases as it ages so the amount of red and blue decreases. To avoid this problem I replaced the bulbs every year. A better solution is to use a 400W Metal Halide and a 600W HPS at the same time. The HPS bulb generally should be replace every two years and the Metal Halide should be replaced every year for optimal growth and flowering.

If you have natural morning light you can skip the metal halide and use HPS.

Paphman910

 

[Lanmark]

hps or mh thati s the question..

If you will be using your HID lamp only as a supplemental light source and if you definitely have good light coming through your window all day every day, my recommendation would be to use HPS. I'd probably choose Horitilux Super HPS in order to get a little more of the blue end of the light spectrum.

Personally I use (and like very much) Ceramic Metal Halide which is different from both Metal Halide and HPS. CMH (made by Philips, called Retro White) is available only in 250 and 400 watt sizes and they run exclusively on magnetic HPS ballasts (no digital ballast, only magnetic ballast for HPS can be used with CMH). The spectrum is full and balanced unlike either MH or HPS. My Neos, Laeliocattleyas and Trichoglottis all love it!

I think annually replacing all HID bulbs is best, no matter what type they are, but MH and CMH bulbs should definitely be replaced every year without exception.

 

[smartie2000]

I love metal halides, they are especially good on adult plants. I would not have so many Phrags bloom in a year with fluorescent lights. I have the normal metal halides with a digital ballast

If I remember, I will mount and put a timer so that my high pressure sodium fixure so that it turns on for a short period each day.

The plants I can't bloom are anything related to paph insigne, Paph armeniacum, and oncidium intergenetics. I may have to windowsill all those plants with seasonal temperature requirements, I shall see. However it is strange that I had the best dendrobium year ever! My entire collection does recieve a winter because temps in the whole house drop esp. at night, and light is reduced, but maybe that is not enough.