Well, I woke up this morning to find my grow room in the dark. Looks like my generic ballast bit the bullet for the second time this grow. I have one plant 2 weeks away from harvest and one monster plant I was just putting in to flowering. I need to get this fixed asap, but I also don't want to fix this crap again. I'm getting really fed up with how unstable my lighting is. My grow location has a somewhat unstable flow of electricity. By this, I mean that the power goes out probably once or twice a week for 1-10 seconds. This is definitely the cause of death for my last two ballasts, so I pose this question: What is a reliable, 600 watt ballast that doesn't need time to cool down between starting the light/can withstand my unstable power. I'm looking at the purple Lumateks at the moment. Because I need to get this fixed right away, as my only source of backup light is 42watt CFLs, I'm probably going to have to run to my local Hydro store, and pay the 33% markup, and get the 600w lumatek for $250 and the bulb for another $100. Do I have any other options? Will this option even work? Advice would be greatly appreciated.
I will assume that you did indeed, check to see that the bulb is working. The brown outs will affect your bulb as THIS IS THE HOT START weakness, not the coil. Most commercially made ballast equipment is made with cheap (foreign made) components. The Capacitor (usually a round "can" with two wires) and/or the Ignitor (smaller, usually an oval can, usually 3 wires) are the weak links in a ballast set-up and NOT the coil itself. The cost to replace these is usually about 1/2 of the initial investment. I too live in an area of brown outs (lower voltage, then higher "spikes) and black outs (power totally out). We even have "rotating black outs" where the power is, on purpose, cut off for a half hour or so on a rotation basis so (theoretically) everyone gets a black out time and less are inconvenienced.
My grow systems ALL use USA made ballast components, easily acquired on the internet. I spend about the same for a raw group of components (not in a nice looking container) that are the single components listed above. I have 12 of these, most are 600W w/ a few 400's. I have been running these for over 6 years on some and as low as 3 years on a few others. I have never had a problem as the coil isn't what I worry about. It is recommended anyway, that the Capacitors be replaced every 1-1/2 to 2 years regardless of wither they work or not.
For your dilemma I'd recommend that you 1st check the bulb and if necessary, go to Craig's List to get a used ballast fast and then investigate your options for the future, as an on-line buying option will obviously take time. Off of C.L. you should be able to locate one today. If C.L. isn't listed in your city, check the closest source to you.
Hope this helps and sorry I don't have an instant solution. Definitely, keep ANY light on the 12/12 cycle you have so as to not disrupt the grow. A few days won't do any harm, more will...
