Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

[SolMJ]

Hello 420,

I would like to start a thread specifically about digital ballasts & how to repair them. All information including diagrams & pictures will be useful. For example what are the main components & what parts are the usual suspects in a faulty one?

I will get the ball rolling by asking the following;

If the ballast isn't switching any of my good bulbs on then what should I do given two scenarios i.e. noise coming from the ballast & no noise?

 

[millertm]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

Digital ballast are not repairable. There are large capacity electronic components that hold a charge. Do not take them apart. Toss out and replace. Core and mag ballast are sold in kits and can be fixed.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[SolMJ]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

Digital ballast are not repairable. There are large capacity electronic components that hold a charge. Do not take them apart. Toss out and replace. Core and mag ballast are sold in kits and can be fixed.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

So there's no capacitor's or fuses or resistor's that could be replaced?

 

[millertm]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

All sealed, bad idea to open, 3 year warranty on most. My dial-a-watt 1k is $136 on line now.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[SolMJ]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

All sealed, bad idea to open, 3 year warranty on most. My dial-a-watt 1k is $136 on line now.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

Haha miller why are you killing my thread before it's started

Let's say you have NO option but to repair this ballast & luckily there's a hardware store next door. What can be done then? surely even you would open the thing up with a hammer if need be lol!

 

[FeralA9X]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

If warranty does not matter i would think that most digi ballasts could be fixed, depending on the issue of course, in my situation i have a nanolux ballast here that only fires MH bulbs, ballast itself is working fine on MH on all settings, put in a HPS globe and its like it is stuck in MH and wont fire, company already replaced this ballast for me and told me to keep the old one so may have a looksie when i get a chance. Ballasts can be cheap but im a tinkerer I have always pulled apart everything since i was a kid lol

 

[millertm]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

I have an MSEE and work in electrical engineering. If you want to open it up and test different parts with meter go ahead. I'm just saying that finding a manual and correct replacement parts will be a challenge. Removing gel over circuit board is hard, correctly removing and replacing parts is very hard. Nevertheless, I'm sure it can be done. But for under $150 to replace I would play it safe.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[FeralA9X]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

In my case it will just be a last look inside before it hits the bin, could have been a manufacturing fault, cold solder joint etc, Was brand new when i bought it, ran a MH bulb for about 6 weeks, never ran a HPS its whole life. If there is nothing visible i wont bother going to the effort of using meters and testing different parts, not worth my time and patience

 

[SolMJ]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

I have an MSEE and work in electrical engineering. If you want to open it up and test different parts with meter go ahead. I'm just saying that finding a manual and correct replacement parts will be a challenge. Removing gel over circuit board is hard, correctly removing and replacing parts is very hard. Nevertheless, I'm sure it can be done. But for under $150 to replace I would play it safe.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

Hey miller I don't doubt your engineering. Do you think finding the right parts in a normal hardware store would be too difficult, is that because they come in different sizes & shapes? would it be as much of a pain as taking apart a laptop?

If these ballasts have an internal fuse for example wouldn't it be worthwhile checking that at least?

 

[millertm]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

Most manufacturers use sets of components. All having matching numbers from production runs. That's how THD stays low. To add any non matched part could cause issues. Just be carful.

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[SolMJ]

re: Digital Ballasts - Diagnosis & Repair

In my case it will just be a last look inside before it hits the bin, could have been a manufacturing fault, cold solder joint etc, Was brand new when i bought it, ran a MH bulb for about 6 weeks, never ran a HPS its whole life. If there is nothing visible i wont bother going to the effort of using meters and testing different parts, not worth my time and patience

Its cool the manufacturer sent you a new one without asking for the faulty one back. You effectively have a ballast for each grow stage increasing their longevity. If you do take it apart would be great if you posted a picture, would love to see the inside. I'm just wondering if there's a few 'simple' things that can be done to fix a ballast that is still salvageable. Like you I like to tinker about with things lol!