HPS Problems....Help Please.

[Mr Spliff]

Firstly, i apologise if this thread is in the wrong category.

I'm hoping someone can give some advice regarding my HPS light....

Last week a thunderstorm tripped out my home electrics for 5 minutes, when the power came back on my HPS would not function at all, the bulb looked fine, no black burn marks or broken elements and the fuse in the plug was checked/fine. (i have a surge protector in place also).
I contacted the store where i purchased the light 3 months prior, who advised me to return the ballast and reflector for a replacement, which i did.
2 days later the new light arrived but yep, you guessed it, this one refused to work too, so even though the bulb looked fine i bought another from my local hydro store and hey presto...it worked....for all of 5 minutes!!
Again i phoned the lighting store and explained the problem, the guy was convinced that the new bulb that i'd bought (a Hobby Power Plant) was not compatible with the digital ballast (cannatronics), and suggested i use the original type of bulb that was sent with the original unit (Silvania Growlux), so off i went to my local store again where i bought another bulb...But, as you may have guessed the light still will not illuminate!
The guy in my local store where i purchased the bulbs said that he'd sent all his digital Ballasts back to his supplier as he had had nothing but trouble with them from day one...??
I have checked and double checked everything from the electricity wall socket right through to the bulb yet cannot see any issues, surely two brand new ballasts cannot be faulty?

Can anyone shed some light on my problem and maybe give some advice please?
Here's a link to the light in question, if it helps.
FG Digital 400w Grow Light: Basement Lighting Hydroponics and Plant Grow Lights

Thanks!

Edited to say: The new bulb that worked for 5 minutes was tested in the local store after it had stopped working in my unit, and worked fine!

[zolar]

sounds like a bad batch of digi ballasts

was the lightning close to your place?

am thinking EMP wave thats the electrical pulse that fries electronics there were cold war nukes that were to be set off
50-100 miles up that would fry all operating electronic in line of sight with EMP pretty sure lightning has EMP effect

did the shop test the lamp on digi or old core and coil ballast ?

[Mr Spliff]

Originally Posted by zolar

sounds like a bad batch of digi ballasts

was the lightning close to your place?

am thinking EMP wave thats the electrical pulse that fries electronics there were cold war nukes that were to be set off
50-100 miles up that would fry all operating electronic in line of sight with EMP pretty sure lightning has EMP effect

did the shop test the lamp on digi or old core and coil ballast ?

No lightening from what we saw, just a rumble of thunder then off went the power.
The shop tested the bulb on an old non-digital ballast, and it powered up fine.

I can't see the problem being anything other than the ballasts, but the odds on two brand new ballasts being faulty are so high that it's making me question everything else....?

[zolar]

power for the whole house eh

could have fried something in the meter where power comes into the house

are any other electronic things weird since then

a power regulating circut could be fried affecting sine wave properties of your electric you still would have your volts and normal amps but fussy electronics wouldn't work right....

hope this helps tracking it down

if you have a grow buddy with core and coil ballast or a good digi ballast play mix and match if the good digi doesn't work at your house butr the cor and coil does you power coming in is weird to electronic ballasts if neither works check your elect meter also check bulb specs some bulbs will work on any core and coil but only a few digital ballasts due to frequncy issues
this is different from normal volts and amps not sure i can really explain it out [ look up CMH hid bulbs for more info]

[zolar]

have heard of mass problems in cheap china digi ballasts bad quality control in components

best advice if you have the pounds is get a switchable cor and coil
or a better brand digi

[Mr Spliff]

Originally Posted by zolar

have heard of mass problems in cheap china digi ballasts bad quality control in components

best advice if you have the pounds is get a switchable cor and coil
or a better brand digi

Many thanks for the help mate, I have indeed ordered a different brand replacement from the supplier.

Lets hope i have better luck with it!

[RooRman]

If your supplier is sending all of his stock back to the factory theres a good chance they are all defective, including the two you went through.

Good news is your bulb sounds like it's fine.

[Mr Spliff]

Originally Posted by RooRman

If your supplier is sending all of his stock back to the factory theres a good chance they are all defective, including the two you went through.

Good news is your bulb sounds like it's fine.

No, it was the local hydro store guy who was sending all his digi-ballasts back to his supplier, not the lighting store.
The lighting store have actually bent over backwards to try and resolve the problem, they have replaced ballasts, fittings and reflectors quickly and with no postal/shipping charges for me....it's just unfortunate that compatibility issues with ballasts and bulbs exists, as after Googling for a while it seems could be the problem.
The new brand ballast hopefully will solve the problem.

Anyone else had issues with digi-ballasts?

[McBudz]

I have 2 lumatek 400W MH/HPS digi ballasts that have not given me any problems thankfully. Both currently have HPS bulbs not sure of the brand I'd have to check the box. Got 2 400w aircooled setups on ebay for 220 each brandnew and I've been happy with 'em so far. Best of luck with your new ballast.

Well actually now that I think about there was one thing weird about them, the socket cord would not seat into the ballast. Upon visual inspection of the socket on the ballast where the output is it looked like one of the slotted connections was over soldered? I took an eyeglass type screwdriver placed it in the slot and tapped lightly with a hammer. Now the plug seats fine and no issues since.