Power Flickers = Blown Bulbs?

I have a question for all you experienced growers... I set up a 400watt HPS system last fall. Two days after I got it (HTG) I woke up to the light being off when it should be on, called htg and was told bad bulb, they sent a new one for free and it worked fine. In the mean time I went out and bought one of those expensive sunMaster bulbs, as I needed one THAT day. It was $90 at local Hydro store. I used it for awhile, but then switched back to the regular bulb when I started a new grow a few weeks ago. I wanted to keep that one as a spare.
Well today it is quite nasty weather where I live and our power flickered on and off a few times. Then it died out for 5 min and came back on again. After that happened I went to check on the light. It had gone out and now it won't start back up? I let it cool down for awhile but it still won't come on, it is doing the same thing it did when the bulb died the first time! This is really annoying, is the power flickering what caused this? The light being turned on and off several times very quickly? If so how do you prevent that, other than a back up generator which is not an option in my super stealth closet grow. I know I can turn off the light, but it is impossible to know when the power could die and what if I was not home at the time? I'm assuming other people have dealt with losing power issues, what do you do? I don't want to keep buying bulbs over and over!

sounds like ballast issues rather than bulb issues.

Tell htg that your ballast keep blowing your bulbs and its costing your ass a fortune. They should replace it.

Also check the wires that connect to your socket. Make sure there are tight.

Well I feel kind of stupid now I left the light off for over an hour and then I started it again and it worked. So I don't know what the issue was before? I know that it can take up to two min to come on but I waited longer than that before. So was the constant on and off power maybe messing up the light before? or could there be some underlying issuen with the ballast? anyway, i'm just glad its working now!

just had the identical problem today - but by trying another bulb figured it was the ballast - it was from, guess who, htg. I emailed them and am calling tomorrow - it happened after hours, but fortunately I had a 250 halide set up. Here's the problem, though - I just switched to bloom a couple of weeks ago - my one female plant (of five, drat - noob luck or lack of knowledge) and I am wondering how long my female that has just started to bloom can manage with a halide light. I don't have a lot of money, but I need my crop for my medical condition (cancer) so want to treat her right. If someone could tell me if I can get by with a week - and then I have to hope htg honors their warranty without sending useless replacement bulbs. Sigh. Help me, Spock...

I think your plant should be fine as long as the length of time it is under lights stays the same? in my last grow when I had that problem, my plants were under only ambient room light for a day and they were fine, a little stretching maybe thats it. I actually got 14 females out of 19 seeds so i was really lucky. I wasn't expecting that so i ended up growing out all 14 in a 4' x 4' x 2' space
HTG is great, call today and I am sure they will help u out

try to use a surge protector it might help . like the one for computers

I got ahold of HtG and they sent me replacement parts for my ballast - I will call them when the parts arrive and they will talk me through the repair. That was good enough for me - esp since I am getting reassurance that my one remaining plant (only 1 of 5 was female) will be okay, which is good because she is blooming and my medical stash is almost gone now. Wanted to make sure HTG didn't get any bad press because of me.

hey,,,,,mine went out last night....in the middle of my 12/12.....i had to rush and find my cfls....i picked up another hps bulb today from home depot....i'm def callin htg tomorrow....cant be having blown bulbs during flowering ......haha

So SunnyD, did the new bulb work? I thought my bulb had blown but it was the ballast. HTG sent parts, but that took over a week and then those didn't solve the problem, either. It was the ballast itself. They finally sent a new ballast but my 12/12 went almost 3 weeks on HID because I didn't have money to get another HPS. I am getting a good bloom on my one big plant but wonder if it will affect my 7 seedlings that I had to put into bloom during the HID. They have stretched quite a lot. Just now showing gender, but only a couple (males, drat). I think maybe buying a cheap ballast from anyone may not be wise no matter how good a company they are supposed to be. I got what I could afford but a higher quality ballast is definitely on the list. Good luck. And it's a pisser having the lights go out in the middle of a bloom, especially as a noob, which I am.

fromagebleu said:

So SunnyD, did the new bulb work? I thought my bulb had blown but it was the ballast. HTG sent parts, but that took over a week and then those didn't solve the problem, either. It was the ballast itself. They finally sent a new ballast but my 12/12 went almost 3 weeks on HID because I didn't have money to get another HPS. I am getting a good bloom on my one big plant but wonder if it will affect my 7 seedlings that I had to put into bloom during the HID. They have stretched quite a lot. Just now showing gender, but only a couple (males, drat). I think maybe buying a cheap ballast from anyone may not be wise no matter how good a company they are supposed to be. I got what I could afford but a higher quality ballast is definitely on the list. Good luck. And it's a pisser having the lights go out in the middle of a bloom, especially as a noob, which I am.

Click to expand...

ya the bulb works fine....the only different is the one from home depot is only 28000 lumens and the one that blew was 33000.

Had another bulb failure - a bulb that should have lasted more than 6 weeks - HPS - and it's really frustrating. I had another, but was lucky. It did give me an excuse to swap out the HID while I found the HPS and take photos of the grow. Sure can't get good shots with the HPS or my green safety light. I dunno - maybe you get what you pay for. But twice in a single 12/12 cycle for a first ever hydro grow was just a tad daunting.

mine is doing the same things is it my bulb or digital greenhouse ballaast

I just recently got a 1000W Digital Greenhouse from HTG (Two weeks ago) and it has performed very well. They did send me a 600W bulb with it which I thought was Hilarious only because I had an old Eye Hordilux laying around to put in it.

I must also say that I now have Zero power issues (knock on wood) due to popping breakers. Check out my room (in Signature) for more on my power.

Why'd they send you a 600 w/a 1000w system?

MrFishy said:

Why'd they send you a 600 w/a 1000w system?

Click to expand...

I have no ideal, most likely a packing error, but they sent out a new one as soon as I called with a return shipping paid slip to send back the 600, which is still in my truck awaiting return. opps

Well, my 13 night old HTG 600W digital 95,000 lumen Growbright(?) horticulture bulb died after 2 hours this morning, so they said (yeah, that's the ticket) you should just send me yours!
It certainly seems awfully hit and miss with HTG. I mean, it's great that they do try and placate everyone. Unfortunately it's starting to appear as though everyone mean everyone with HTG gear.
I wondered why so many would shop elsewhere. I think I'm starting to see that answer clearly.