Switching HPS on / off quickly

How does this damage the lamp? If i remember correctly you should wait a while before turning it on again (i dont have digital balast, if that matters).

This morning the timer didnt went on, and i was in a pissy mood so i pushed the on/off button on the timer several times before i realised it now actually worked and my fan (which i was listening for to go on was in fact turned off). I must have turned the two HPS lamps on/off like 5-7 times quickly (2-3 second intervals).

Did i mess up my lamps? Of course it looks completely fine, but i can obviously not tell if i made the lights 20% weaker or something like that.

you probably didn't do too much damage, but doing this too often will degrade your bulbs.

Each time a lamp is turned on there's a surge of elect to get it started, it will definately damage you lamp if it happens too often, always let it sit a while before turning it back on. it won't cause problems to your plants to have lights out for a few minutes.

if u unplug it after the bulb heats all the way up and u plug it right back in without letting it cool the bulb enough first can diminish the life and intensity. the bulb still turns on but it never fires all the way up. just electricity moving thru it with an old magnetic ballast. new digitals have fail safes for this stuff now and normally make u wait before it will fire again.

wheels619 said:

if u unplug it after the bulb heats all the way up and u plug it right back in without letting it cool the bulb enough first can diminish the life and intensity. the bulb still turns on but it never fires all the way up. just electricity moving thru it with an old magnetic ballast. new digitals have fail safes for this stuff now and normally make u wait before it will fire again.

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Ok, thanks for the replies. Hopefully i didnt damage them then, because they couldnt have gotten heated up in just a few seconds. The bulbs are just 2 weeks old so that would have really sucked. I'm usually very careful with this, and i wait like 15 minutes before turning it on again (if i for some reason need to turn it off).. so this didnt improve my mood when i noticed what i had done, lol

Too bad the digital ballasts are so expensive, i mean i can get a bulb, old ballast (whatever they're called) and a cheap reflector for that price. Do they consume a lot less power though? I've noticed my electrical bill went up quite a bit now with 2 x 600w...

ebay. same exact ballests u would buy in a hydro store and its only 2/3 the price. amazon is nice also. even the higher end lighting kits on ebay with digital ballasts are nice. avoid the low end digital ballasts. if its a hundred and fifty bucks for a new digital 1000 watt ballast. somethings wrong. lol. buy a used hood on craigslist for 50 bucks. its the end of the season. also get bulbs online for half the price as a hydro store. just look for the deals dude. and ask on here when u find a decent upgrade. someone on here will steer u in the right direction.

wheels619 said:

ebay. same exact ballests u would buy in a hydro store and its only 2/3 the price. amazon is nice also. even the higher end lighting kits on ebay with digital ballasts are nice. avoid the low end digital ballasts. if its a hundred and fifty bucks for a new digital 1000 watt ballast. somethings wrong. lol. buy a used hood on craigslist for 50 bucks. its the end of the season. also get bulbs online for half the price as a hydro store. just look for the deals dude. and ask on here when u find a decent upgrade. someone on here will steer u in the right direction.

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Yes, i might check Amazon UK or something (i'm in the EU, not US..).

same concept different currency.