I have this ballast High Tech Garden Supply with the 120v power cord with an easy cool 8 reflector and the socket set that comes with it. I assembled it and plugged it in to a surge protector like instructed and plugged that into my wall outlet with this bulb High Tech Garden Supply and when you plug it in the bulb starts to ignite and literally has like a flame inside the bulb and then after about 10 seconds the bulb dims out and then the bulb wont turn on again. After I took the bulb out this white ring is loose inside the bulb and the bulb is sort of smokey inside. Anyone have any idea whats wrong? I DID NOT touch the bulb with my hands and I wiped it off to make sure no one did in the store. ANY help is appreciated! P.S. This has happened TWICE, both with the same type of bulb (exactly, brand and everything) and I only have one more MH bulb to try and use until I have to trek to HTG supply again (they will be hearing about this problem and replacing my bulbs as they are under warranty)
Ive tried this with two bulbs already, I originally bought 3 MH conversion bulbs, one for immediate use and two for spares. Unless this whole lot of bulbs are shit but I doubt it. I'm just hoping to get some advice before I plug in my last MH bulb (they have warranties but still, its a decently long drive to get them replaced and I need to get my MH system running within the next day or two) and have it do the same thing. Thanks for your help! Edited my original post to include this info, sorry blades.
That's your problem. You don't need a conversion bulb, you have a digital ballast. You need just a regular MH or HPS bulb.
really? the guy at the HTG supply store set me up with "what I needed for everything to have it work correctly"... Do MH conversion bulbs not work with digital ballasts? Theres no switches on the ballasts to choose between HPS or MH or anything? Just plug it in and lights supposed to shine.
I dont think that should matter but its worth asking the store you bought it from. If its not starting up your bulbs then your ballast could be bad, contact the vendor for a replacement.
This sounds like it to me as well conversion or not it shouldn't be trashin bulbs like that.I have a T5 from HTGS and I've went through 4 or 5 bloom bulbs in less than 6 months .Is the ballast made by HTGS?
Feel free to do some searching. There are plenty of people that have had problems with digital ballasts and conversion bulbs. Not all digital ballasts are created equal.