Ipower ballast ??

This is actually the first thread Ive read about the actual ballast I have. I feel like theres more reviews here than anywhere else and Id like to thank everyone who put there input up. Its because of this Im confident someone will have a good suggestion on the small problem that Im having with my 600w ipower ballast. First, hope everyone is staying cool on these beautiful summer days. Well here it is, and im hoping my problem is not as unique as i think it is lol. My light and 6' tube are inside of a 4x4 grow tent. Pardon me if i dont explain this clearly, as it is kinda hard to explain. The light doesnt turn on until i open the tent. for example the light is on a timer thats set to turn on at 6am, the ballast turns on as it has fans and I see and hear them spinning, but until I unzip the tent the light wont turn on. Weird right? Heres the thing, whenever i make an adjustment it works fine for like 2 days. For example when the light was brand new and first put in it worked for like 2 days then (wouldnt turn on until tent was opened). I remembered reading that the ballast should not be inside of the grow tent, so I took mine out of the grow tent and mounted it to the wall outside the tent. Worked fine for three days then you know what started to happen next. Also, for all you people that would ask the same question that i would ask, the temperature has changed more than once. What i mean by that is, when I first put the light up, the ventilation use to come on at the same time, then the company I bought the ballast from suggested that the ventilation not come on untill the light has been on for at least 5 mins. So to answer any future questions the ventilation has came on in different variations of times. The bulb I am using is an ipower bulb (alegedly "super hps"). And after reading alot of posts I am beginning to believe that maybe its the bulb. ALso my friend has that same bulb and had no problems. Any suggestions thanks.

I am running a 600w mh/hps also. Ive had similar problems but i had the ballast inside the room which was about 90+ ya i know way to hot. But have relocated. Have been running it for 7 months straight. Make sure your bulb is securly in the socket. Keep ballast outside of tent. And as for the ventilation. I hav mine running 24/7and my light stil comes on. So idk what to tell u about ur problem. My bulbs have not broken once and or blown. Have ben running the hps for 6 months and no problems. This is my first grow and sofar ipower has been good to me. Hope everyone else is having the same results.

Mine broke today, walked in to water the ladies, and to my surprise my flower room was dark. Heard the ballast making this clicking sound every second, assuming it was trying to turn itself on. Screwed with my breaker, plugging in, unplugging, changing bulbs, nada... While changing bulb noticed a loose dime sized bit of wire within the bulb sliding around. Got on the phone, told the ebay store i bought from, described, then bitched about the bulb as well. Long story short, I paid 17 bucks to ship the ballast back, and they put a new one in the mail, along with a new HPS bulb. A few days of shitty CFL's in the flower room shouldn't break me, so I'm a lot less stressed now, than i was this morning when I woke up to it.

I keep my fan running 24/7 just to keep good air flow as I don't use supplemental Co2 in my 4x4 and other tents. I did switch out for Hortilux bulbs and did get a better lumen per/sq ft. My switchable digital ballast is really quiet outside the tent, my only regret is not getting and enclosed hood rather than the cooltube with wing reflectors, but 5 og strains, 2 of which were GSC and I got .89g/watt but they were vegged for between 45-70days with some topping and training. Also should mention this was a soil grow of ammended RO 707 soil, could push things faster with coco or straight hydro. I've had zero interference with any electronics and from my experience I would recommend them to people who aren't looking to deck small tents out with slightly overpriced hoods and ballasts, not that their bad, but the minimal difference if any is maybe not worth it. If I do run into problems I will hit this thread back up with an update but so far we are close to a year with no problems what so ever. Still anyone who does have a problem with Ipower should let us know so we can all keep an informed discussion on the products.

thanks for the reps guys ive stored my ballast for like a year and used it for 8months.. needit for 4 more months my last grow before i travell so lets hope it makes it !!! need those 10oz

immaculus said:

After months with no issue or sign of interference on my end from my ipower 600w digital, Comcast came knocking. They claim that they are getting interference and have narrowed

it down to my location. I said I don't know what the hell you are taking about, all my equipment is working fine. They then sent someone back to install a grey box outside my house

at my line connection. I'm assuming that the box eliminates the interference from affecting their systems? Needless to say... I moved all Comcast lines away from grow room and

pulled my crop 3 weeks early. I guess magnetic ballast for me from here on out.

Click to expand...

This is my experience with ipower ballasts...

I only had minimal interference with wifi. The main issue I have run into with ipower is ballast breaking on me. Original ballast blew a fuse and melted the power cable where it connects to the ballst within a month. Second ballast only lived 1 week and now waiting for a third ballast but my crop got ruined :/

The mh bulb blew out thanks to the first ballast blowing a fuse but they sent me a replacement since bulbs have a 1 year warrantee and ballast has 2 year but it's a pain to wait on the ups service without HID lights :/

immaculus said:

This is my experience with ipower ballasts...

Click to expand...

same....exact...story

I have the ipower 600 Digital ballast and bulb.

Only problem I had was the first bulb burned out in less than 6 months. I emailed them and they replaced it. been great ever since.

imagine plugging in your brand new light with all new fan and ducting all set up....flick it on and a bit later have electric company knocking....saying interference coming from my place........returned to seller for a refund...looking for a better quality this time

I have the 400 watt digital, Never had any issues with it, no interference or quality issues. I had a friend have one die and they replaced it free, Even emailed him a return shipping slip. They have some of the better customer service I've seen out there.

i have a 600. cool tube ipower ballast, my bulb that came with it blew really quickly witin the first few weeks, they sent me another bulb a year ago and its still working fine, temp wise they have a super long cord so u can mount it anywhere, and mine doesnt get to hot.

I have had 6 successful grows with my 400 watt ipower no problems at all system is two years old now and still going strong........

Just had my 600 ballast blow... Started smoking and everything.
This was right after a power outage.
So I replaced the fuse plugged it in and bam started smoking again.

Sent the company I bought it from an email. They asked for the serial number and for me to send it back to them.
"As soon as we can track the old ballast we will send you another".
Well they held true to the word and sent me another ballast.

Whole process took a week.

So my two cents...
Poor quality product, however they stand behind it and back up their 2 year warranty.

So I like the company but will probably not purchase from them again. I will be switching to a magnetic ballast. If you are just starting and need some kind of light to help with the first couple grows ... Yeah I'd recommend it. If you know what you are doing and cannot have a light fail you whenever it feels like it then this is not your product.

dashay said:

I have had 6 successful grows with my 400 watt ipower no problems at all system is two years old now and still going strong........

Click to expand...

Knock on Wood, Dude!

I'm hearing more people recommend the Apollo ballasts over the Ipower. I've decided to skip out on getting an expensive phantom or lumatek ballast as I need the extra 200 bucks I'll save for PH meters,etc.

So now it basically comes down to the HTG 400 watt HPS magnetic ballast or the Apollo brand :S

Not seeing very many experienced growers who's actually had an Ipower or Apollo for long periods of time come oout :S

Customer service is excellent, had a bulb go bad...they were fast on the warranty.
Never had problem with my ballast.

Nookies said:

I'm hearing more people recommend the Apollo ballasts over the Ipower. I've decided to skip out on getting an expensive phantom or lumatek ballast as I need the extra 200 bucks I'll save for PH meters,etc.

So now it basically comes down to the HTG 400 watt HPS magnetic ballast or the Apollo brand :S

Not seeing very many experienced growers who's actually had an Ipower or Apollo for long periods of time come oout :S

Click to expand...

A new 400w phantom is $115.

My Apollo is still running strong..original bulb went out last month and I don't turn em off..., purchased around when I joined riu..works great still, no rfi. I like em enough to get another pretty soon..great deal for the price. A year isn't that long to judge I suppose but..

I have a 1k air cooled set up. The only issue has been when I accidentally flip the light switch my circuit is running off of, when I flip it back on the ballast won't fire back up. I usually have to wait 5 or so min, then all is well.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Rollitup mobile app