400 watt ballast keeps turning off then turning on ....im so mad

my ballast that i have has been doing strange things over the course of time ive had it even when i first got it ....my problem was in the begining that the ballast would turn on make the bulb flicker then shut off....eventually i played with it alot and it turned on and stayed on....i turned it on before i left last night and when i got back its been off and doing the same thing as when i first got it but i been playing with it alll last night for hrs and cant get it to stay on it just keeps flickering ive tryed moving the bulbs changing wall sockets everything still wont come on ....the fan inside the ballast is always moving so i no power is there and the ballast is on...it seems like its trying to get power but not enuff and shuts off ive seen this before with alot of people ballast online ive seen posts and all they have done was play with it and got it back on....ive done all that and still nothing..... !!!!PLEASE HELP!!!!

You know what might help... giving us actual information of the ballast/bulb?

What ballast is it?
What bulb brand?

i dont think this matters man because like i said i had these bulbs workin fine on and off all the time i just get this problem on and off sometimes but normally it fixes itself after 2 mins or so now it just dont wanna click in....like im sure if it worked before its not the bulbs or ballast its gotta be something else

heres the specs on the ballast and bullb

bulb - Artemis HG s51 LU400W/T/Plant

ballast - siegeng 400w HPS & MH

I was just wondering because you said you've been having problems with it since you bought it (why not return it?). Have you tried using a different bulb? I use a cheapo Ultra Sun bulb with my Lumatek 400W ballast and they work flawlessly together.

what do you mean played with it. like moving wires around, just wondering could be short

or do you have a window unit ac running off the same breaker coming on every time the light shuts off. I had that problem with a 400 Watt magnetic ballast.

MH's can behave like that with near end of life or damaged bulbs, have you tried a new bulb in it? Otherwise I would start looking at the ballast, and usually that's something you just replace.

If you bought it recently, contact your manufacturer about your warranty, otherwise your ballast might just be shot from age and need replacement.

I just lost a 250w hps ballast the other day. It was acting just like yours. The light would come on and only stay on for a few minutes and then it would come back on like a minute later and just keep repeating the process. Luckily i had spare 250w hps ballast that i was able to hook up and all is good now. I would say your ballast is bad. And if it was me, if i would have bought the one you have and it started acting up from the time i bought it i would return it. Mine was 2yrs old so i was not that upset about it. I more than got my moneys worth out of it.

I was going to suggest it might be wiring as well. It's possible it could have come loose over time.

I just had the same issue and I thought my ballast went out so I borrowed a friends and used my bulb. It started doin the same thing. So I went and bought a new bulb and now it works fine.

I was having the same problem with a 1000 watt could not figure it out. we opened the ballast and there was so much dust the fan was not spinning and it was overheating. hence it turning on and off again to save itself. hope this helps it worked for me.

made sure your timer isnt on?

Is your bulb seating properly in the mogul socket?

I had an issue with my Ushio MH not sitting in my Xtrasun reflector. Which would cause my ballast to not fire my bulb sporadically. My ballast would also flash Lamp Fault.

So it could be a compatibility issue.

Maybe not enough juice in the room? My AC would trip my power when I was sharing a 15 amp as a teen living at home.

You would get the whole light flickering thing and everything.