# 2 Phantom 1000w randomly not kicking on , anyone else have this problem?



## HempletonState (Feb 12, 2012)

i have two brand new Phantom digital dimmable ballasts plugged into a lighting controller which is wired straight to the box on its own breaker with a 240 line. there is a 120 volt trigger coming from the lighting controller which i plug into a Hydrofarm timer. also the 120 volt line the trigger plugs into is the only thing on the circuit. This setup worked fine for years with my old magnetic ballast but upgraded this year to these new Phantom digigtal ballast and now on random days never two in a row but usually about once a week wont turn on . Its a brand new timer and new Hortilux bulbs. anyone else have this problem or know whats going on????????


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## jpill (Feb 12, 2012)

I own 8 phantom ballasts and i've never had a problem. All of mine are wired at 220 as well. Call the manufacture see what they have to say. 

Also , there is a thread some where on this site entitled "Experienced electrician here to answer your questions." He might be able to help you out . !


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## jpill (Feb 12, 2012)

here is how mine are wired.


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## HempletonState (Feb 12, 2012)

thanks bro i already brought them back to the store where i got them cause they started my last grow and we found one which was faulty and they gave me a new one worked fine for three weeks then bam pulling this shit again....they go right on when i un plu then plug it in its weird


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## HempletonState (Feb 12, 2012)




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## LSDreamer (Feb 12, 2012)

Read the manual. There is a 15 min warm up period. If the power is shut off at all, you need to wait at least 5 after. Now, it seems to me, like your timer is faulty, or it is slow when it turns on. If for instance you plug the 120v trigger cable in quickly, then remove it by accident. You need to wait at least 5 min to turn on again. Now, If you have it setup wrong, it would trigger on, shut off quickly and when it tries to turn on again, its within the 5 min period, so It will give you a double blinking light error.


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## jpill (Feb 12, 2012)

Shit happens.At least you got it fixed. One good thing about Phantom , check out there warranty. They offer a 4 or 5 year warranty on there ballasts. I thought that was pretty cool .


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## HempletonState (Feb 12, 2012)

LSDreamer said:


> Read the manual. There is a 15 min warm up period. If the power is shut off at all, you need to wait at least 5 after. Now, it seems to me, like your timer is faulty, or it is slow when it turns on. If for instance you plug the 120v trigger cable in quickly, then remove it by accident. You need to wait at least 5 min to turn on again. Now, If you have it setup wrong, it would trigger on, shut off quickly and when it tries to turn on again, its within the 5 min period, so It will give you a double blinking light error.


i was thinking along the same lines thats is why i bought a new timer before this grow do u think its the type of timer? is there a high quality timer for bigger ballasts?


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## jpill (Feb 12, 2012)

get a "mechanical timer" when you get a chance. their like 70 bucks but they won't shit on you. I use this one timer for all my lights. Its near the top of the picture


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## jpill (Feb 12, 2012)

Its mounted on the wall near the fan on the left hand side. Also there is a high temp. shut down attached to the timer. This way my AC gos out and the temp rises too much that high temp shutdown will turn the lights off.


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## HempletonState (Feb 12, 2012)

thanks bro really appreciate the help. I also love the Phantom and my guy at my local store was using one for atleast a year in his shop before i got mine and he really liked it also. Their warrenty is banging and they definately are brighter then the magnetic ballasts i had before. i will keep u posted. sick set up by the way.


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## perry420 (Feb 13, 2012)

jpill said:


> Its mounted on the wall near the fan on the left hand side. Also there is a high temp. shut down attached to the timer. This way my AC gos out and the temp rises too much that high temp shutdown will turn the lights off.


Yea that is sick as shit


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## jpill (Feb 13, 2012)

Thanks guys ! If you need any help just let me know.


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## HempletonState (Feb 13, 2012)

jpill you were right on with what was causing the problem. i am nuts about some things and i swore that using a push down peg type timer would be the safest bet because it had the least amount of things to fail. luckily i always have extras of everything so i switched that type timer with a digital timer i had that i was convinced COULD fail although it never did so i went to the peg type. needlessly to say everything worked fine with the room and i started messing with the timer they were plugged into and i found on occasion it would kinda go back first then forward which would make sense that it was sometimes hitting a quick jolt on then off then on again which would explain why i randomly was having the problem because the timer wasnt always doing it. You were right on again man really appreciate it


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## HempletonState (Feb 13, 2012)

i actually have another question for you since you seem to know your shit. i recently got a temp and humidity monitor that saves the high and low temp and humidity each day and i never realized that when the lights were off which meant the intake fans were off the humidity is rising to inbetween 40 and 50 percent. i do hydro and i keep a 480 CFM with a big carbon filter running 24/7. for years i have never had any issues do to humidity so i never thought about it. do you think i should worry about it and go get a dehumidifier or since its never been a problem before dont worry about it.


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## jpill (Feb 14, 2012)

Vegging - 50% - 60%ish.

Flower - 40%ish.

Those are just ball park figures. My veg room is just under 60% now but when flower comes i will def. drop it to under 50%


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## HempletonState (Feb 14, 2012)

Alright cool thanks again man


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## Grojak (May 23, 2012)

I am having the same problem with my Phantom... ran it for 3 days than bam won't come on...


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## Grojak (May 24, 2012)

Hortilux Eye MH bulb didn't work on my Phantom 400w ballast when I first purchased, but did work at the store. It worked for 72 hours this week, but than when I plugged it in again it flickered and that was it (which is what it did at the old house). After spending hours yesterday looking online I came to the conclusion it was a compatibility issue, got me a $25 Sylvania HPS plugged it in and it worked right away, time will tell if it keeps working. 

Bottom line (not a fact just an observation) Do not use Hortilux MH bulbs with a Phantom, even though some folks say they work just fine, don't take the chance. The phantoms seem to only have issues with MH, I could not find anyone with issues using HPS, but hey I veg under 8 T5's so no biggie for me.


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## budleydoright (May 24, 2012)

Only the New Eye bulbs are made to be used in a digital. A digital will damage the older eye bulbs.


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## Grojak (May 25, 2012)

Thing is I got the bulb the grow shop said worked great for that ballast


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## BeaverHuntr (May 25, 2012)

Grojak said:


> Hortilux Eye MH bulb didn't work on my Phantom 400w ballast when I first purchased, but did work at the store. It worked for 72 hours this week, but than when I plugged it in again it flickered and that was it (which is what it did at the old house). After spending hours yesterday looking online I came to the conclusion it was a compatibility issue, got me a $25 Sylvania HPS plugged it in and it worked right away, time will tell if it keeps working.
> 
> Bottom line (not a fact just an observation) Do not use Hortilux MH bulbs with a Phantom, even though some folks say they work just fine, don't take the chance. The phantoms seem to only have issues with MH, I could not find anyone with issues using HPS, but hey I veg under 8 T5's so no biggie for me.


I use 1000W HPS Hortilux with my 1000W Phantom.. WOrks like a champ.


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## Grojak (May 25, 2012)

I see that a lot and I'm so far having great luck with that old $25 Sylvania HPS... did you read my bottom line?
*

Bottom line (not a fact just an observation) Do not use Hortilux MH bulbs with a Phantom, even though some folks say they work just fine, don't take the chance. The phantoms seem to only have issues with MH, I could not find anyone with issues using HPS, but hey I veg under 8 T5's so no biggie for me.


​
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*


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## Kind Sir (Feb 12, 2015)

I was looking at a 600 watt phantom ballast thinking 1000 is unnecessary for my first grow. Phantom ballast (digital or magnet?) Oshio bulb high performance and idk what reflector yet.


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## DirtyMcCurdy (Feb 14, 2015)

I still use digitals but after one just went up in smoke after switching from MH to HPS, instantly blows the fuse, I'm going to try magnetic. I just got an xtrasun 1000 watt switchable and I don't agree with the whole magnetic being louder argument. The digitals I'm still using, for now, use cooling fans that are louder than they probably should be. You can't hear the hum of the mag over the digi's fans. As for heat, the xtrasun mag ballast i just got doesn't really get that hot either. And the whole high frequency "advantage" is starting to proved ill-conceived because digital ballast can't control these high frequencies well enough to produce a "clean" light or a consistant wavelength. I paid $115 delivered to my door step for my 1000watt mag ballast, the price alone makes me wonder why I ever tried digitals. Just my $.02 I


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## jcommerce (Feb 14, 2015)

Check YouTube and other online tests for PAR comparisons between magnetic and digitals, not to mention efficiency.


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## DirtyMcCurdy (Feb 14, 2015)

jcommerce said:


> Check YouTube and other online tests for PAR comparisons between magnetic and digitals, not to mention efficiency.


Yeah yeah. My biggest concern now is reliability. After I suddenly lost one of two ballast in my flower tent I had to rethink the issue. I've had enough problems I don't need uncontrollable variables, or at lest I'm trying to limit them. I will just get another light if I'm lacking PAR but after I get another 1000 watt for my tent I don't think I'll have that issue. Besides I want to supplement t5's or some other source of uv light on top of my hps


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## DirtyMcCurdy (Feb 14, 2015)

DirtyMcCurdy said:


> Yeah yeah. My biggest concern now is reliability. After I suddenly lost one of two ballast in my flower tent I had to rethink the issue. I've had enough problems I don't need uncontrollable variables, or at lest I'm trying to limit them. I will just get another light if I'm lacking PAR but after I get another 1000 watt for my tent I don't think I'll have that issue. Besides I want to supplement t5's or some other source of uv light on top of my hps


And the differences are marginal. Get an honest comparison, not somebody's marketing gimmick on youtube.


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## weedenhanced (Feb 14, 2015)

I was using digital but it would work fine for my mh bulb but when switched to hps it was dodgy 
Iam now back on a magnetic and it a dual magnetic so can run both all I miss is the dimmable option 
Also my mag only hums when It's firing up the bulb other wise it's fairly quiet


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## jcommerce (Feb 14, 2015)

DirtyMcCurdy said:


> And the differences are marginal. Get an honest comparison, not somebody's marketing gimmick on youtube.


I've seen them done in person here in the 707.


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## HempletonState (Feb 15, 2015)

Was just browsing through the forums and saw that this popped back up I started this about 3 years ago. An update , I have not experienced the problem with the ballasts since having the initial problem. I don't use the dim feature anymore and I also only use them for flower so I never use metal halide bulbs with these ballasts. They work great make no sound and emit almost no heat, I like them


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## HempletonState (Feb 15, 2015)

DirtyMcCurdy said:


> Yeah yeah. My biggest concern now is reliability. After I suddenly lost one of two ballast in my flower tent I had to rethink the issue. I've had enough problems I don't need uncontrollable variables, or at lest I'm trying to limit them. I will just get another light if I'm lacking PAR but after I get another 1000 watt for my tent I don't think I'll have that issue. Besides I want to supplement t5's or some other source of uv light on top of my hps


I also use t5's in my flower room along with the 2-1000's for added light. I keep them towards the bottom of the canopy and it's really reduces the larf.


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