Blew up a ballast today...

[Shannon Alexander]

Soooo... I borrowed a 400w ballast and light from a friend... plugged it in... turned it on... it hummed for a couple of seconds as it started getting power, I started walking away and then I heard a sizzling sound, turned back and saw flames... I would assume that the ballast is now officially toast. Am I correct in thinking so..?

 

[Capt. Stickyfingers]

Possibly not. It depends what component failed. Is it a halide? You can buy a rebuild kit for 400 watters on ebay.

Edit: Heres some nice ones for less than ebay. And they have halide and sodium kits.
http://www.htgsupply.com/Category%2DDIY%2DBallast%2DKits%2Easp

 

[Shannon Alexander]

He said it was MH... I really couldn't believe it happened tho, I only saw it working 2 weeks ago...

I'm not exactly the handy man type of guy, do you know where I could find instructions on how to find out what failed..?

 

[Shannon Alexander]

Thank you so much for this... You're a life saver...

 

[Capt. Stickyfingers]

I'd just take it apart and look for either burnt black parts or melted wires. There's only a few parts to a ballast, they are pretty easy to play with, even if you don't have any electrical experience. Those rebuild kits are a breeze and they come with instructions. There are only like 3 components and some screws.

 

[Swag]

He said it was MH... I really couldn't believe it happened tho, I only saw it working 2 weeks ago...

I'm not exactly the handy man type of guy, do you know where I could find instructions on how to find out what failed..?

Judging by the fact that you said it made a sizzling sound before igniting it seems obvious that you had direct contact with it through your hands and the greases/oils from them were transferred to the bulb and because HID's become very hot the oils in a significant (not even large) quantity can ignite into flames like you described. Hopefully only the bulb and/or reflector were damaged and not the socket for the bulb as the latter two can easily be replaced. Sorry for your bad luck man

 

[Capt. Stickyfingers]

Judging by the fact that you said it made a sizzling sound before igniting it seems obvious that you had direct contact with it through your hands and the greases/oils from them were transferred to the bulb and because HID's become very hot the oils in a significant (not even large) quantity can ignite into flames like you described. Hopefully only the bulb and/or reflector were damaged and not the socket for the bulb as the latter two can easily be replaced. Sorry for your bad luck man

His bulb is fine, he was talking about the ballast catching fire.

 

[Shannon Alexander]

Swag - Thank you for your input but it wasn't the bulb and the flames were in the ballast...

 

[Capt. Stickyfingers]

Good thing that caught fire while you were there. That could have been one terrible day, consider yourself lucky.

 

[Shannon Alexander]

Yeah it could have turned out worse...

 

[batf1nk]

Yeah it could have turned out worse...

Alot worse my friend, indeed, count yourself lucky, people have lost their homes due to dodgy ballasts. Glad everything is cool!

 

[wheezer]

what brand ballast was it?

 

[stillfree]

i have done something like that it didnt go up into flames...just black smoke started coming out and it made a bad burn mark on the ground... did yuh get urs online or at a hydro shop cuz most of di time there is a a couple year warrenty on them yuh might b able to get a new one.

 

[Capt. Stickyfingers]

just black smoke started coming out and it made a bad burn mark on the ground

This is why I keep my ballast on bricks. You never know when something is going to spark, or get hot enough to catch carpet and shit on fire. Unless you have cement floor, then you're good.

 

[stillfree]

i feel ya mon i learned my lesson with that one. haha

 

[Shannon Alexander]

I don't know what brand ballast as it doesn't have any markings on it and I borrowed it off of someone so I don't know where he got it from...

 

[ChronicObsession]

Soooo... I borrowed a 400w ballast and light from a friend... plugged it in... turned it on... it hummed for a couple of seconds as it started getting power, I started walking away and then I heard a sizzling sound, turned back and saw flames... I would assume that the ballast is now officially toast. Am I correct in thinking so..?

Heh! Digital Shit? Hell yes, Could have burned a coil in the iron transformer if it isn't digital. Your friend is going to shit a brick! What's he going to believe? Oooh! Tell him the FED came and confiscated all your stuff, but you didn't go to jail because you traded the death squad a giant, basketball sized boulder of crack in exchange for your life. Peace

 

[Shannon Alexander]

Lol... I'm just going to tell him what happened...

 

[Capt. Stickyfingers]

Heh! Digital Shit? Hell yes, Could have burned a coil in the iron transformer if it isn't digital. Your friend is going to shit a brick! What's he going to believe? Oooh! Tell him the FED came and confiscated all your stuff, but you didn't go to jail because you traded the death squad a giant, basketball sized boulder of crack in exchange for your life. Peace

Ballasts are super old tech. The ballast that caught fire was probably extremely old, and worthless. The rebuild kit is only like $55. Why make some ridiculous lie to cover himself? You shouldn't hand out advise so readily, you're not helping anyone.

 

[Shannon Alexander]

Given that I spent the last few days on the troll threads one of the posters in there was bound to find me and troll a serious thread...