Replacing ballasts every 2-3 months ... why???

Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Quick question: Why are my ballasts burning out every 2.5 months?

They're all Fluence, all under warranty. The lights themselves have had no problems ... but frequently replacing ballasts is a real pain in the ass. Fortunately, I have an extra light + ballast, but I don't want it to be a f'ing backup -- I want to use it ... but every time I catch up, circle back, and get ready to mount it to supplement a veg station, one of my nineteen ballasts blows.... So fed up with this. Fluence won't tell me anything and the authorized re-seller just keeps sending me replacements. I want them to work correctly, I don't want to regularly devote time to replacing ballasts, reorganizing my cables/timers. Pita, pitfa.

Please tell me it's an environmental condition I can control like humidity or temp..... I want to throw them all out the window. Each light was >$300, including ballasts, which are like $50 each if you buy them separately.
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Try posting photos of the ballast, hard to say any of an unknown led driver. If you have 20 lights and 4 failing per year it's a serious issue and depending on where you are you should have some legal rights, generally with the reseller.

Maybe the the led driver can be replaced with a more reliable brand. Good luck
 
Rocket Soul

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
How hot are the drivers when running? Regular checks of temps may give you an idea of which one is next to go.

Are the replacement drivers also the ones that fail? Probably not new driver but a recon driver, which are generally more likely to fail.
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
Try posting photos of the ballast, hard to say any of an unknown led driver. If you have 20 lights and 4 failing per year it's a serious issue and depending on where you are you should have some legal rights, generally with the reseller.

Maybe the the led driver can be replaced with a more reliable brand. Good luck
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm hoping it's user error -- heat and condensation. If that's it, I absolutely have to dial-in conditions ... since the lights and plant seem to be fine, I figured conditions were close enough. In hindsight, that's a terrible approach.
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
How hot are the drivers when running? Regular checks of temps may give you an idea of which one is next to go.

Are the replacement drivers also the ones that fail? Probably not new driver but a recon driver, which are generally more likely to fail.
Click to expand...
I've got photos, I'll post. See, I like these because the ballast is not directly connected to the light. So, the heat is not directly over the plants. I mounted the ballasts on a wall, a cord connects them to the lights. But the individual ballasts get very hot. So, ballasts all being on the wall, in close proximity, plus some excess humidity ... is probably not the best environment.

Gotta plan this out and get it right ... can't waste so much time with band-aid fixes. This sucks.
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Not the best photos. In the larger tent, there are 10 ballasts (1 for each light) and they're not as spaced out as the wall with 6 mounted to it. ballast 2.jpgballast 1.jpgballast 1.jpg
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Rocket Soul said:
How hot are the drivers when running? Regular checks of temps may give you an idea of which one is next to go.

Are the replacement drivers also the ones that fail? Probably not new driver but a recon driver, which are generally more likely to fail.
Click to expand...
I really need to record product #s, so I can answer that question. When you're working and trying to do this ... I'm just trying to keep it going, but I'm quickly realizing I'll have to allocate more time to product complaints and tracking which ones I'm replacing.... That sucks all the fun out of this.
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
cobshopgrow said:
do you run the drivers at 100% load all the time?
normally lifetime increases a lot when going with about 80% load max.
never saw these drivers, if theyre that sh... i would prob swap the brand.
Click to expand...
Yes -- 100%, all the time. I like the 66" Ray. There's a lot of coverage, and I can get plants super close to them (for some reason, that appeals to me). Six in one bloom area, ten in another bloom area, 3 in a veg station. I'm confident Fluence's indoor spectrum is great -- love the lights -- their ballasts just shit the bed. They offer 3 and 5-year warranties. I believe all of mine are under the 3-year warranty. I bought so many ... I'm sticking with them for 3 years.

In 3 years, I'm moving to the mountains of my state ... in the city, it's convenient enough to get everything shipped to me ... but it's going to be more of a challenge/delay in the mountains. By then, I'll need a brand I can trust for the duration of its warranty ... one or two replacements in a 3 or 5-year warranty is expected. Four in a year is bs.
 
Apostatize

Apostatize

Well-Known Member
Rurumo said:
I'd definitely start blasting air over those drivers, they look kind of close together.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I was thinking about that this morning. Some/most ballasts that are directly attached to lights have fans ... so, I was thinking of fans keeping heat off plants and, with Fluence ballasts a cord-length away from lights, I was so busy being impressed by how close I could get plants to lights that I wasn't thinking about cooling the ballasts themselves (together, they're probably well over 100 degrees F where there's ten of them).
 
MustGro

MustGro

Well-Known Member
I hang my Meanwell drivers from the same bracket that I hang the light from. I know with the Meanwells the hottest part is the bottom of it. My lights had the drivers mounted to the back of the LEDs, right on the heatsinks. It left a heat outline of the ballast on the heatsink after I took the ballast off. I'd be worried about the heat building up inside the ballasts if I had them mounted to a board like you do @Apostatize . At the least they could use some air like @Rurumo said.
 
P

PCguy564

Active Member
I would check your voltages going to the drivers.
They are only rated 120-277v, while other drivers are usually 100-277v, depending on what's connected on the circuit you could have a some slight sag.
That really shouldn't matter much but I can't envision an environment where those drivers get hot enough to grill themselves while having alive plants near the same vicinity. Temp ratings are quite high on the driver.
There is a possibility of a bad batch of drivers and Fluence knows this which is why the reseller has no issue sending replacements.
It's not even like FSP group is a bad make, as far as their power supplies go anyway.
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
I've heard about the drivers...... "Fluence sucks, there drivers/ballasts fail all the time, out of the 4 fluence I have, 1 fails every couple months."

This guy's Fluence has drivers from Thomas Research Products.
www.thcfarmer.com

Driver for Fluence RazrX LED

What’s up guys? So here’s the deal I picked up a Fluence RazrX light used from a dude for $75, so I was thinking it was a good deal. But after I got home I looked at the driver and thought it seemed and looked like a cheap driver, it’s made by “Thomas research products” PIC BELOW. Couldn’t find...
www.thcfarmer.com www.thcfarmer.com
 
welight

welight

Well-Known Member
I put some strips into my production area with old funky drivers, mounted to timber, driver failed within a day due to heat, mounted the next driver onto alu plate, then back onto timber, hasnt missed a beat since, still runs hot but dissipates through the alu plate. Maybe check the driver(ballast) temp and see if it is getting hot, then consider mounting on plate.
 
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