My HPS lamp has been turning off every ten minutes, an unwelcome pattern I just noticed. It goes off for about 30 seconds and stays on for about 10 minutes in intervals. Does this mean I need a new bulb? New Equipment? Its been kinda hot and rainy here lately, I don't know if that makes a difference. There also has been several power outages due to some thunrderstorms in the past couple of weeks. I've also been noticing some stretching with my k train and wasn't sure if it had to do with genetics, but now I think it may be my faulty lamp. Please give me some good and swift advice so I can save my ladies!!!
sounds like it could be an issue with the ignitor....just a thought. try a new bubl if that don't fix it get a new ballast.
is it a light that you purchased, as in it is basically a light you can buy at home depot for lighting up signs and such. if so then it has a photocell imbeded on it, and it will sense light, so once it gets so bright it senses it and turns off. and the process repeats. solution: find where it is sensing it(normally a swirly little circle) just cover it with something dark. obviously the ignitor is working because it lights it up to begin with, try setting a fan up to cool the ballast off, if that doesnt work then get a new bulb and you should be good to go. start with diagnosing the problem and check it off. trial and error
Sounds to me that some kind of thermal protector is activating - maybe inside the ballast. A lot of these ballast assemblies have the ignitor and other bits inside the case housing the ballast. Makes replacement of duff components difficult and often expensive. I prefer to have a separate magnetic ballast and the ignitor wired externally to that. And if the bulb is lighting up OK, the ignitor is probably sound.
Aloha ! IT IS THE LAMP When a lamp starts to fail iy cycles , the interval will get shorter and shorter When an igniter fails, the lamp won't start.
Well the lamp has the ballast built into it, I got it from HTG Supply. I had a fan blowing air on it and thought that might have been the problem so I took out the fan, but waited 30 minutes and noticed it clicked off 3 times. I just started using this lamp 3 months ago even though I got it 2 years ago, I had it in storage since I wasn't using it. I will go ahead and buy a new bulb. Thanks for all the advice.
Another question, can I just purchased a 250W HPS bulb from home depot instead of ordering one online and having to wait for it to be shipped? Or do I have to use the specific SunAro Max bulb?
you dont HAVE to get that exact bulb, you CAN go to lowes or home depot and get a 250watter, but the ones that you can buy online(that are typically more expensive) are spectrum enhanced, meaning they emit more rays of light that your plant loves.
I just got back from Home Depot, and decided to do away with my HPS and switch to CFL's, They only had 3500 K Cfl's so I got those. Hopefully less heat will be generated.