Ok....we have been having some storms that have been knocking the power out today. The power has never been off more than 10 minutes, and my babies without light for no more than 15 mins. I have two questions...
1) Does this affect my plants (seedlings in veg, 18/6 400w MH) to have the light go off during the "day" like this?
2) Sometimes when I go to power up my light after an outage, it will just not come on. It may light up for a second, but then it is gone. I have to keep switching it on and off to finally get it to light, then it will be fine. Anyone else experienced this?
Thanks guys for helping a brother out!

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And don't be letting my son leave Advanced Nutrients empties all over the place....that's a dead giveaway!!

Can't say i know how it will effect them but i know erratic lighting can cause them to stunt if it gets bad, Consider getting a UPS or two or three chained together. Also make sure that if the power goes out you allow sufficient time for the bulb to fully cool{20-30 minutes}, i understand that starting a hot bulb can be a very bad thing. Good Luck

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UPS....do you mean HPS? I have one for flowering...I am in veg right now under a 400 watt MH. I think this light is sufficient for my small grow, is it not? 5 plants. As for letting thew bulb cool,, I have been just firing it right back up so as to not lose light time......I hope this hasn't hurt my lights.

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And don't be letting my son leave Advanced Nutrients empties all over the place....that's a dead giveaway!!

bump to original question please

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And don't be letting my son leave Advanced Nutrients empties all over the place....that's a dead giveaway!!

I know one thing for the sake of your plants and light, get a battery backup for the light.

you should be fine. 20 minutes of no light won't hurt them.

UPS as in a power supply.

Uninterruptible power supply - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Cool...I have actually never heard of that. Surprising considering being in insurance for many years. Thanks much & rep to both of you all...will likely be getting one, as we leave in a developing area and power surges are not uncommon. Also, any insight as to why my light won't always kick back on after resume of power, without unpluggin/replugging several times?

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And don't be letting my son leave Advanced Nutrients empties all over the place....that's a dead giveaway!!

Any suggestions on a good make/model of UPS??

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And don't be letting my son leave Advanced Nutrients empties all over the place....that's a dead giveaway!!

WOW A UPS for the lights is gonna cost!
Go Here and decide for yourself:

APC - Smart-UPS - Product Information

Plug in your wattage (400W MH +~100W for the ballast and extras)

Looking at $1000+ US. I'd look more at a standby generator and let the whole house benefit from it.

APC is actually well priced for the quality. But at those loads, you need more then the $50 Staples special.
You'd benefit more from a standby generator. The whole house could use it (well critical devices)

The plants? From what I've been reading, need 12 hours min of dark to do the happy thing.

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