Ballast, Bulb burning out can fry ballast?

I was told @ my local "dro shop that if you let your HID bulbs burn out, that, it can cause your ballast to fry. Is this true or are they just trying to get people to buy more bulbs...?????

OK, I'll take a guess and say no. My reason is that you see magnetic ballasts used in warehouses, garages, signage and undergrounds besides being used for growing. When they burn out at those places and nobody notices or changes the bulbs for a while, I doubt they replace the ballast everytime. As for digital ballasts, they have auto shut offs.

Why would you continue to run a balast with a burned out bulb anyways?
It would probobly make sense to replace a burned out bulb anyways, I never get to this point, as I replace mine well before they burn out so I have max lumens.

I asked him the same thing, IE: street lights. He mumbled something about photoelectric eyes or something.......

I'm quite sure it's BS, a tactic to sell more bulbs....

What if the bulb burns out while your gone?

How long does a lamp last??

I replace every 12 months for hps, and 9 months for my MH.

My one bulb burnt out so I went to unplug it and the one ballast was hotter than the rest, I have a lazer thermometer and it read 110 celsius, but the rest were only 75. So I think it would burn out.

raponne said:

How long does a lamp last??

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The bulbs themselves can last a very long time, thats why they are used alot in street lamps, so they dont have to change these out often. For growers they drop in lumens after so many hours depending on the bulb and size, so most of us replace them well before they burn out.

my ballast is also very hot, i can´t put my hand there for 2 seconds i would get burned. is it normal???

listen up its not bull shit it just happened to me ten minutes ago. i was putting in a brand nhew ushio hps and it was a defect cuz it light up for thirtys econds then started flickering then poof it was gone......i was so pissed my brand new bulb did this. until i found out the ballast is fried too. seriously pissed. its true

thcheaven said:

I was told @ my local "dro shop that if you let your HID bulbs burn out, that, it can cause your ballast to fry. Is this true or are they just trying to get people to buy more bulbs...?????

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i have a digital ballast and was installing a brand new ushio hps and it was a defect and light up for thirty seconds then started flickering then it was out. i was pissed until i put in the old bulb and realized my ballast is fried. how am i gonna get ushio to buy me a new ballast

demonic1 said:

OK, I'll take a guess and say no. My reason is that you see magnetic ballasts used in warehouses, garages, signage and undergrounds besides being used for growing. When they burn out at those places and nobody notices or changes the bulbs for a while, I doubt they replace the ballast everytime. As for digital ballasts, they have auto shut offs.

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seattlegrownewb said:

listen up its not bull shit it just happened to me ten minutes ago. i was putting in a brand nhew ushio hps and it was a defect cuz it light up for thirtys econds then started flickering then poof it was gone......i was so pissed my brand new bulb did this. until i found out the ballast is fried too. seriously pissed. its true

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so you're trying to say every time a bulb goes out, your ballast also burns out? that's complete horse shit, if that is indeed what you're saying... if that were the case, people would be buying a new ballast every time their old bulbs went out..

seattlegrownewb said:

listen up its not bull shit it just happened to me ten minutes ago. i was putting in a brand nhew ushio hps and it was a defect cuz it light up for thirtys econds then started flickering then poof it was gone......i was so pissed my brand new bulb did this. until i found out the ballast is fried too. seriously pissed. its true

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i have been hearing that a lot lately.. I tell ya the cheap non marked sylvania ? or phillips bulbs i received are awesome no worries.. I did have my plasma in the beginning take a crap twice but fixed the issue and growing strong now.. I beginning to thing all this amazon shit is bogus. but just me sorry to hear bout all these bulbs..

Actually, it's the bulbs that take the hit. Most common (unnatural) reason for a HID bulb burning out is when you are setting up the timer and you click the bulb on and off repeatedly. More bulbs die that way than naturally burn out, I bet. BigSteve.

I had a single 1000w eye horti(brand new) burn up two brand spanking new powerhouse ballasts in a row, some years back. It was more like it blew them up! I still, to this day feel lucky, it didn't end up worse. I mean, the ballasts (which are white of course),would end up dead, and black in the morning, after running for who knows how long over night, all jacked up. Good thing for warranties rite?

I was scratching my head big time trying to figure it out. I mean, it just doesn't happen like that to often.

You see what was happening was, a piece of metal inside the bulb would end up touching were it shouldn't, after it ran for some time. I noticed how dangerously close that piece of metal was when i finally put it up to a different bulb. Total fucking fluke, but it can happen!

the only problem i had with eye hortliux blues was that they burned out quickly in my digital ballast... mine was about a month'ish old when it blew, yeah, i was pissed..
for w/e retarded reason, when they made digital ballasts, they decided to up the frequency in which they fired the bulbs from the old, magnetic styles.i forget the numbers off of the top of my head, but i'd say mag were like 5k hz, and digitals fire around 25k hz, again, i'm just totally pulling those numbers from memory, so of course i could be way off..
anyhoos, i realized that some light co's are now making bulbs manufactured for digital ballast and the higher frequencies used in them.. companies like digilux, sun pulse and ushio are all made for digi;s, and i'm sure a few others i'm forgetting as well.

racerboy71 said:

the only problem i had with eye hortliux blues was that they burned out quickly in my digital ballast... mine was about a month'ish old when it blew, yeah, i was pissed..
for w/e retarded reason, when they made digital ballasts, they decided to up the frequency in which they fired the bulbs from the old, magnetic styles.i forget the numbers off of the top of my head, but i'd say mag were like 5k hz, and digitals fire around 25k hz, again, i'm just totally pulling those numbers from memory, so of course i could be way off..
anyhoos, i realized that some light co's are now making bulbs manufactured for digital ballast and the higher frequencies used in them.. companies like digilux, sun pulse and ushio are all made for digi;s, and i'm sure a few others i'm forgetting as well.

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Yeah, like said, total fluke.
I/we have been rocking the
Eye Hortilux for a very long time, they still hold their own. No other complaints here
I picked up two digi ballasts when they first came out, all was good, but they both died at roughly 1 yr. never bought them again. But have heard about the bulb issue.

It's old school magnetic ballasts for me still! I replace caps in them, whether they need them or not, every roughly 1-1/2 yrs. It really matters. They fade, and most people don't even know they fade.
Good stuff

I had bulb problems and was way pissed at the HIGH cost of name brand special NM range bulbs......
Tried Sylvania and all my troubles went away!
No fucking difference in results and I can get a case of 1k's (6) for almost the same price as 1 of some of these high falute'in name brand wallet suckers.

Dr. Who said:

I had bulb problems and was way pissed at the HIGH cost of name brand special NM range bulbs......
Tried Sylvania and all my troubles went away!
No fucking difference in results and I can get a case of 1k's (6) for almost the same price as 1 of some of these high falute'in name brand wallet suckers.

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i used to think that way, then i saw this thread a few years ago.. i have to say, it has changed my mind..

https://www.rollitup.org/t/think-your-bulb-doesnt-matter-hortilux-comparison-blowout-pictures-say-it-all.355137/