Broken Bulb, Wrong ballast ?

http://www.virtualsunhydroponics.com/Agricultural/products/VS600CRDS.asp?rt=2 i bought this setup a while ago and the bulb that came with it was broken right off, i sent it back and got a new one but while that was in transit i went and bought a new bulb from the local hydro store. It is an Ultra Sun 600watt hps, and it says its for use in s106 ballast only. The bulb recently broke after using it for about 6 months. Can anyone tell me if i have an s106 ballast or how i can find out what it is? I am going to take back the ultra sun bulb it has a 1 year warranty, but i might not have had the right ballast so im worried they wont take it back. These bulbs looks completely identical and have the same spectrums and life span so i assumed it was the same thing.


The ballast says its a - Growers choice electronic ballast s52 hps or m47 mh . serial or part number on the side 01112017000006 -A006

I really have no idea what s52 means or s106. Im thinking the s106 is the ignitor in the ballast and the s52 is the bulb type? If that is the case, how do i know what bulb to match to the s106 ignitor?and i still dont know what kind of ignitor is in my ballast, im really confused

and sorry if this thread is in the wrong section im a noob with forums...

I think I'd send the ballast back too..after double checking any settings it might have, but it looks pretty straight forward. Pretty sure that bulb should be OK for that setup, IF the bulb was quality, and the ballast is working right. Might even be the same manufacture bulb, just rebadged in a box. I deal with crappy Chinese audio tubes all the time and these bulbs aren't much different. Don't skimp on bulbs. and don't be scurred to send it back. You can't keep buying bulbs every few months. If the ballast is defective you could be messing with fire..literally. P.S. look at the Xtreme Nano Ballasts..American made too. I love mine, has a three year warranty. I just got it and it is bada$$.

Wait..just looked that ballast up. It says that is a 1000w ballast. You may have the wrong ballast/ light setup.

The ballast is a 600watt it says on it, plus i have a 1000watt from the same place and its huge compared to this ballast. I did look it up and saw somewhere it said 1000watt also idk why.

You get what you pay for. You bought shit, and now you have broken shit. Live and learn. Or not.

Looks to me like you have a digital ballast and a bulb for a mag ballast. Digital ballast run at higher a frequency than a mag ballast and the vibration will cause a bulb not designed for it to burn out premature

Any bulb will run on a current digital ballast. There were some issues with older ballasts and bulbs but there isn't really any issues these days. That said, your digital ballast could be of such poor quality that it burns out bulbs.

I run their MAGNETIC ballasts with no issues. Their digital sucks. Flickers, interference, etc.. My digital 600 says S52 on it also. Its in its box. Waste of my $$. Maybe they make 1000 in mass and then just relabel. China and all.

legallyflying said:

You get what you pay for. You bought shit, and now you have broken shit. Live and learn. Or not.

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That is a pretty dick thing to say, I was looking for info on my ballast and you couldnt answer it so why come in here and say something smart. The digital ballast is made for 600watt MH and HPS,i own a 1000watt kit i bought from them a while ago and its worked great so i bought this 600watt . and if you read the post properly you would see i have only blown one bulb,the original bulb was broken. I have the bulb i had got returned from virtual sun in there now and its running without issue. All i wanted to know if i had an s106 ballast and someone could educate me on what that means.

Coho said:

I run their MAGNETIC ballasts with no issues. Their digital sucks. Flickers, interference, etc.. My digital 600 says S52 on it also. Its in its box. Waste of my $$. Maybe they make 1000 in mass and then just relabel. China and all.

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Yeah my 1000watt is magnetic and this new 600watt i got is digital,i havnt had any problems with the 1000watt light.