So I just caved in and purchased a Sunsystem 150 Watt HPS Light and Ballast kit (ballast built right in), and installed it in my bedroom closet. After only being out of the box for 8 hours, I noticed that my BATHROOM lights were "twinkling"; that is, they were ever-so-slightly (but extremely noticeably) getting brighter, and darker, and brighter again with no pattern. The fan that comes on with the lights was also speeding up and slowing down. Knowing the only thing that's changed today is that I set up a new digital ballast and light-kit for the first time, I went into my bedroom (which shares a wall) to inspect it. Naturally, the HPS light was also flickering the exact same way. It wasn't turning on and off, but just growing brighter and dimmer with no distinguishable pattern (a few times a second). After turning it off, I saw that the bottom of the barely 8-hour-old HPS bulb is starting to turn BLACK. I thought ballasts were specifically for regulating power to avoid damaging equipment? If so, how could it be already burning out when I just opened it brand new earlier today? And how could it be affecting power in the BATHROOM? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I'm not going to turn it on again until I know it's safe (I'm in an apartment building), and I'd rather my girls not die from lack of light. They're only a week since germination Also, within 5 minutes of shutting the lights off, the bathroom lights returned to normal.
If you are drawing from the same circuit breaker you may be on the verge of the system tripping. Check your breaker panel. can you plug into the plug that uses the hair dryer (typically by the sink in the bathrooms) with your highest wattage item?. It is a GFCI and is designed for higher amperage but will trip if there is any short to include an accidental shocking. Before switching to higher fuses you need to take a close look at your wiring. Most wiring is designed for a little higher wattage but not enough to keep a high watt item plugged in, it (wire) may get dangerously hot if you go big fuse without a larger gauage (physically) wire. Contractors ahve this money saving method down to a science and within most state regulations or construction standards. If your ballast has a 120/240V setting and you select 240 without plugging in the dryer plug your ballast would react that way. Washer and dryers are the only 220/240V wirings in most houses. Anyway select the appropriate voltage on the ballast.
I can't imagine him almost flipping a breaker from a 150w light. It just doesn't make sense. Do you have anything running a high wattage on that circuit? Damn apartment buildings suck, it may be possible if they were really cheap setting up the circuits.
That's crazy though. Breakers should be minimum 15 amps and I can run upwards of 1800 watts. That breaker must be 5 amps lmao
OP here. Got some bad news from my best friend yesterday and had to leave town so I wasn't able to return the setup to the store and ask questions. After a few more google searches I found out that what I thought was the bulb "burning out" was just the silvery getter at the base of the bulb, which is supposed to be there. I've taken the kit back out of the box and set it up in my bedroom closet again. It's been on for about an hour and I've got no problems yet (though admittedly there is a slight plastic-y smell filling the room, kind of smells toasty but I'll give it some more time). I went and checked out my fuse box, and saw that of the 6 available fuses, only 4 are labelled. There doesn't seem to be one labelled "bathroom", so either they just didn't label it, or more likely...the bedroom and bathroom (which share a wall) are drawing from the same fuse. I've enclosed a picture of the fuse box. I remember my stepdad seeing this fuse box for the first time and making a big deal over how outdated it is. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this is my problem? I really don't want to run the risk of damaging my equipment, but at the same time my girls are approaching 6 inches tall and only have one set of leaves, so I need to get them a close, dependable light source and FAST. Apologies that the one pic is sideways.
The breaker is likely 15 amps as you say, you made me go to the garage and look.. Looks like someone has a possible answer.
NO! Well let me say this. Find out the guage of your current wire. Most wiring is 12-14 guage in homes. Most likely 14 as it is the smaller wire and saves the builder money buy using the smallest wire for that amperage. You may want to rewire that line. Shut off the power to that line, open the plug cover, take the wire box out and use a cheap wire cutter to size your wire, the copper part. Once you determine your wire size you can look up the max rating of that wire. Electricians normally give a small % additional for surges. Anyway you can decide if a new fuse is the answer or rewire to support the increased load.