can someone tell me why my 400 mh isnt comin on? with pics!!! plus rep

i have a 400 watt ballsast, mh/hps from htgsupply. i used it once already, through veg and flower. i turned it off to use the tent as a drying area, and to get the next crop ready.
today i plugged it in, set the timer and waited, well here it is 2 hours later and im still waiting. the ballast is making a buzzing sound? louder than i remember the normal running sound.
any ideas as to what might be wrong with it? the ballast sat in the same place, never moved an inch, and the bulb is not broken as far as i can tell. after i switched to hps, i wrapped the bulb in bubble wrap, then wrappedit in a bunch of paper towels for storage. it also never moved. i always wear surgical gloves when handling the bulb, so it isnt finger oil. i just dont know
i unplugged it, and have left it unplugged for the last 30 mins. i am getting ready to retighten the bulb for the second time the socket was also never without a bulb, so nothing should be blocking a connection.

heres the info available on the light
The grow light ballast is a brand new REMOTE 400 watt HPS ballast, with an innovative design that separates the ballast core away from the capacitor and ignitor components to provide high performance and long life. This grow light ballast is made to our specifications with high output lighting results for horticulture / hydroponics / indoor gardening use. The High Pressure Sodium grow light ballast also features a convenient retractable handle with large keyholes for wall or ceiling mounting options. The lighting ballast also has over-sized rubber feet for electrical safety and quiet operation. The 8 foot power cord and 10 foot light bulb output cords are constructed of the highest quality, heavy gauge industrial grade electrical cord usually seen on grow lights costing much more. The HPS ballast is pre-set and ready to plug into standard 110/120 household voltage, but can easily be changed to 220/240 volts. The High Pressure Sodium 400 watt High Pressure Sodium grow light ballast will operate any standard or horticultural 400 watt High Pressure Sodium lamp or 400 watt Metal Halide Conversion lamp. For future upgrades, the universal socket set can be used with many other reflectors; including, air-cooled reflectors, umbrella style hoods, and many other grow light reflector hoods. This makes the system a great value in hydroponic and indoor gardening lighting.

worst case scenario i have to wait 3 days for a replacement,. no biggie, still just popping out of the soil, and have cfl lights on them as well.


as promised, heres pics
View attachment 1514133
heee hee lots of pics!!

does the HPS bulb work?

yes, i switched them out and it worked, then i switched it back out for the 3rd time, and the light came on this time. good to go.

good deal then. Glad you got it sorted out.

the hps has an ignitor for the lamp that is built in with the ballast, the metal halide ignitor is in the lamp, that is why an hps lamp will not work in a metal halide ballast as there is no ignition, but a metal halide lamp will work in an hps ballast as there is now 2 ignitors and that does not make any difference, so ignition could not possibly be your problem, thats where the buzzing comes from the ignitor is going crazy trying to find the lamp , the problem must be the lamp unit itself, as for touching the glass of the lamp, i think you will find that this is a myth, the high pressure lamp is actually inside the large glass dome bulb, this dome should not be under very much pressure as it is a protective case for the lamp inside as that is under very very high pressures, if you could touch the inside lamp with your fingers the gas from the sweat of your hands would enter through the glass with condensation and affect the gasses inside the high pressure lamp and that could cause serious lamp failure, so much so that it would probably explode like a grenade on light up with fragments spraying at very high speed in all directions, and could seriously injure or kill you, hence the need for steel boxes with safety glass in a warehouse, so i think that your metal halide lamp has just given up the ghost for no apparent reason and decided to work again for the same reason so do not use it, discard it very carefully and get a new one, better still buy an hps grolux bulb with both light spectrums built in and vegetate and flower at the same time with the same bulb, i think you will be astounded with the results, small plants big buds.

when i get the money i have been thinking about getting a dual spectrum light. thanks for answerin guys

convict156326 said:

when i get the money i have been thinking about getting a dual spectrum light. thanks for answerin guys

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Good for You !!!

Hi I'm having the same problem !! It works fine with my HPS lamp but when I change the switch to MH and put my MH lamp it just buzzes . I already changed the lamp and it didn't work with the new one either.
It was working perfectly until I moved the ballast very gently and that was it ???

WeeGogs said:

the hps has an ignitor for the lamp that is built in with the ballast, the metal halide ignitor is in the lamp, that is why an hps lamp will not work in a metal halide ballast as there is no ignition, but a metal halide lamp will work in an hps ballast as there is now 2 ignitors and that does not make any difference, so ignition could not possibly be your problem, thats where the buzzing comes from the ignitor is going crazy trying to find the lamp , the problem must be the lamp unit itself, as for touching the glass of the lamp, i think you will find that this is a myth, the high pressure lamp is actually inside the large glass dome bulb, this dome should not be under very much pressure as it is a protective case for the lamp inside as that is under very very high pressures, if you could touch the inside lamp with your fingers the gas from the sweat of your hands would enter through the glass with condensation and affect the gasses inside the high pressure lamp and that could cause serious lamp failure, so much so that it would probably explode like a grenade on light up with fragments spraying at very high speed in all directions, and could seriously injure or kill you, hence the need for steel boxes with safety glass in a warehouse, so i think that your metal halide lamp has just given up the ghost for no apparent reason and decided to work again for the same reason so do not use it, discard it very carefully and get a new one, better still buy an hps grolux bulb with both light spectrums built in and vegetate and flower at the same time with the same bulb, i think you will be astounded with the results, small plants big buds.

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Not all ballasts are like that... metal halide uses a capacitor. And hps has a capacitor and igniter. You can put a switch inline cut the hot to the ignitor. In a hps ballast and run metal halide in it. Then when ready to flower flip switch on and swap bulbs. I work for a company that does signs, street lights, big pylon signs along interstates. I have an unlimited supply of ballasts from 75 watt mh to 1500 watt mh. Then 70 watt HPS up to 1000hps. Both bulbs and ballasts. A complete array of leds.

My ballast is dual and a couple of weeks ago at I was using the MH setting I moved my ballast a couple of inches and that was it ! It stopped working, I changed the setting to HPS changed the bulb and it worked.
So you think I may need to change the capacitor for the MH side of things ?
If i was back in the US I'd look you up for some equipment but I'm way South !!
Thanks !

Roberto Rodriguez said:

My ballast is dual and a couple of weeks ago at I was using the MH setting I moved my ballast a couple of inches and that was it ! It stopped working, I changed the setting to HPS changed the bulb and it worked.
So you think I may need to change the capacitor for the MH side of things ?
If i was back in the US I'd look you up for some equipment but I'm way South !!
Thanks !

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I would say the capacitor is starting to go bad. Sometimes they swell up. And they start cutting out. From the heat and continuous use. Well I don't mind shipping if you wanna pay for it. The stuff is heavy.

Roberto Rodriguez said:

My ballast is dual and a couple of weeks ago at I was using the MH setting I moved my ballast a couple of inches and that was it ! It stopped working, I changed the setting to HPS changed the bulb and it worked.
So you think I may need to change the capacitor for the MH side of things ?
If i was back in the US I'd look you up for some equipment but I'm way South !!
Thanks !

Click to expand...

Sounds more like a loose connection, when your cap is on the way out your lamp will start to cycle on-off-on-off,etc. A dual mode ballast uses the same cap in mh as it does in hps mode, only difference is the starter/igniter as already stated.