400 watt ballast wont light up

I have a 400 watt hps ballast and for some reason it just wont light up i plug it in and it just makes this really loud noise it has done this before and eventually it starts to work again but i dont think its the bulb because like i said it s happened before and still works and i dont think its the ballast either i think its probably because i turned it on and of all of a sudden while fixing up my grow room but i wanna know if anybody knows of any type of quik fix for this situation? Any help is appreciated

try a new bulb in it. that is the easiest way to check unless you have an HID lamp tester. turning the light off and right back on is not good for the bulb or the ballast. the bulb will normally be the one to fail on hot starts.
what kind of ballast is it?

sounds like the ignighter is bad. very cheap item to replace. just go to electrical supply and pick up one....good luck

I had the same occur with mine. Replaced both the igniter and the capacitor... ended up the actual ballast core failed
No explaination... it just failed. How old it your system? Any warranty possibilities? If you have a good relationship
with a hydro shop, they might help you out with a loaner for a week until your's is repaired or replaced. Good luck.
One more thing... don't make the mistake I made of not paying attention to what I was buying. Make sure your
ballast is what you think it is. I ended up buying a ballast that runs only HPS. Good thing I looked before I ruined
my MH bulb or the ballast itself. Read before you buy.

GodofGraphics said:

I had the same occur with mine. Replaced both the igniter and the capacitor... ended up the actual ballast core failed
No explaination... it just failed. How old it your system? Any warranty possibilities? If you have a good relationship
with a hydro shop, they might help you out with a loaner for a week until your's is repaired or replaced. Good luck.
One more thing... don't make the mistake I made of not paying attention to what I was buying. Make sure your
ballast is what you think it is. I ended up buying a ballast that runs only HPS. Good thing I looked before I ruined
my MH bulb or the ballast itself. Read before you buy.

Click to expand...

thanks for the info bro lucky for me it just started working again out of nowhere, i just plugged it in grabbed the bulb accidentaly and it just lit up but i might just buy a new one instead of having it repaired ive had mine for over a year now and its starting to fail.

sa1asjok3r said:

thanks for the info bro lucky for me it just started working again out of nowhere, i just plugged it in grabbed the bulb accidentaly and it just lit up but i might just buy a new one instead of having it repaired ive had mine for over a year now and its starting to fail.

Click to expand...

Hey I had the exact same problem with my 400, I have 2 going but 1 would always fail, replaced bulbs and all, same thing, until I figured out what was going on, I was drawing too much juice and it wasn't getting a strong enough amp draw, I just rearranged some of the things I had drawing from that breaker and it's been no problem since....-just anotha idea

Well thanks for that tip there Buckwheat. I got a cheap one 150 for the ballast hood two bulbs etc. Its a Sun Leaves brand which is made in China seems like. The only trouble I have had is trying to restart it right quick after it turned off. The manuel says to wait 15 mins and I think they are right. I know I have too much current coming off a weak 15 amp breaker. Keep meaning to boost it up to a 20 one of these days. Now funny on the HPS setup is the man say I could have a 1,000 watt for the same price. I still aint quite figured that deal out. Looks like it ought to cost more to me. What do you think was up on that? My growspace is too small for a whopper. The 400 has worked great so far. Havent used the MH bulb much. I clone and veg them under flouros then direct to the HPS. Has worked fine so far. Also try to give them a little UVB each day. Not sure it helps but it makes me feel better