When I originally bought my solistek ballast I hooked it up with the hood that came with it (fitted with the sun systems plugin). I bought a replacement hood and it has a hydrofarm plugin on it. So I say no big deal and buy an adapter to convert it. Well when I originally got the ballast I fired it up with the original hood with a 600w hps in it. It worked so I put it up til I got my replacement hood. Last night I set my tent up and this morning started furnishing it. I plugged the hydrofarm hood in, dimmed it to 400w so I could run my halide and plugged it up. I waited for light and finally after a minute it kicked on but then turned back off after 3 seconds. It continued to do this for about 3 minutes (thought maybe it needs to warm up) before I just unplugged it.My question is do you think its electrical related (my ballasts led light stays on so I know its not losing complete power) to where its not getting the juice it needs, or is it the adapter? I know some ballasts have a certain cord range to function and the hydrofarm daystar A/C has atleast 10ft of cord as is, the adapter is about 8in.Edit: god damn it why does my posts converge together every time, its annoying to see fat ass posts....solution anyone?
Ballast on, pulsing light?
- Thread starter thinn
- Start date
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
Fire it up full power, allow few minutes to warm the circuits and then try dimming.
superstoner1
Well-Known Member
some dimmable ballasts want to dim the original sizebulb, if your ballast is 600 it needs a 600 bulb. some will accept lower wattage bulbs when ballast is dimmed. could also be some bulbs just dont work as good on digital as magnetic.
I asked my local store if they had any 600w halides, they did not. I searched thru ebay to find one but they are hard to come by....He told me 600W in halide is an oddball...
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
some ballasts accept lower watt bulbs for the lower watt setting, but it would appear that some dont. i would buy a 600w MH and dim it to 400w that should solve your problem, has to do with the ignition still being at a 600w level even though it is dimmed to 400w(not truly 400w but close)
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
They have them all over Amazon. What base bulb?
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
they can be. i know you probably not trying to spend a lot on a light bulb but i would recommend an Ushio.
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
$85 on Amazon. That's not cheap but considering how long you really need them, not want them but need them, that's pretty cheap.
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
600 watt Digilux are less than $70.00
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
http://www.hydroponics.net/i/135611 i would go his brand then its pretty cheap and good spectrum. i know its says conversion bulb but there is no difference between a regular halide and a conversion. well a ver yvery small difference that means nothing because a halide conversion bulb will run on a halide ballast....
hotrodharley
Well-Known Member
I think your local shop may be off. I called my local place here in AK to ask how rare they are. I heard somebody snickering. They had me on speaker phone the jerks. Told me they had them in 3 different brands and to come on up. Could be because we use so much indoor lighting here too, who knows?
imchucky666
Well-Known Member
If you hit 'enter' when you want a new paragraph, then a couple spaces to indent the new sentence,,,,,
See?
Actually, I 'entered' twice there.
. *Edit* Sorry, I guess the space to indent won't work unless you put a period or character there first.
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
this site has been hacked or fucked wit or something and a lot of people are experiencing problems that is one of the problems not being able to add lines between paragraphs. seee? wtf it just changed you shit for me!If you hit 'enter' when you want a new paragraph, then a couple spaces to indent the new sentence,,,,, See? Actually, I 'entered' twice there.
stoking
Active Member
Umm on dimmable ballasts everything points to using the proper bulb which would be 600watt than adjusting from there. Personally I don't know, never ran a digital ballast, let alone an dimmable.
This said instincts tell me you may want a fire extinguisher ready and keep a close eye on whats going on.
This said instincts tell me you may want a fire extinguisher ready and keep a close eye on whats going on.
Thanks for the responses guys, I definitely want quality bulbs so i dont mind shelling out for some of the better brands. When I get home I guess I could troubleshoot by putting my 600w hps in with the hood adapter connected and if it runs then i know its not the adapter but the 400w halide. Hopefully my shop takes returns on lights but I doubt it. I have seen the conversion bulbs while searching for 600w halides but did not think that was what i needed, thanks for the heads up!
stoking
Active Member
As i said in another post by same user, check the settings. Site maintenance perhaps, has caused the changes. Easy fix. as well clear your internet options then make the change? I had same issue seems your browser may retain settings. I dunno, but I dont have the issue anymore.
legallyflying
Well-Known Member
It should fire the 400 bulb without any problems. My 1000 solis tek will fire a 400mh with no problems. Try it at 600. It's not going to hurt anything if the bulb is air cooled. I drive 400mh at 600 all the time. They don't recommend it, but I have been doing it for several years with no issues.
I'm not happy with the solis teks to be honest. The ballast makes a high pinched ringing sound as does my bulb (1k hortilux). It was ringing the other night and I tapped the base of the bulb and it stopped. I should have stuck with the lumateks. I have 14 of them and never had any problems
I'm not happy with the solis teks to be honest. The ballast makes a high pinched ringing sound as does my bulb (1k hortilux). It was ringing the other night and I tapped the base of the bulb and it stopped. I should have stuck with the lumateks. I have 14 of them and never had any problems
Thank you for the info! I was going to to purchase 2 1k solis tek ballasts at the beginning of my second grow, hmm maybe I will go with lumatek seeing as I keep hwaring good things about them....