HELP me; my light is broke

i found out thursday night that my 600w hps was no longer turning on... its only a month old.... the ballast is humming and blowing air, and the light flickered once, but im getting no fire up on the bulb, and the reflector housing is carrying an electrical charge. i dont know what the problem could be. our power has went off briefly everyday this week, could that have caused it? please, some of you guys with electrical backgrounds, give me some input here. i am at a loss and really need to get my ladies back under a light.

I've done this with computers, but never a ballast. Unplug it from the wall, and turn it on. let it stay on for 30 seconds or so, turn it off, plug it back in, turn it on.

EDIT: Sorry, the point of this is to clear all capacitors and small gizmo's that hold electricity. Other then that I can only suggest to check the obvious. Make sure the bulb is seated properly, and all the way in. Try plugging something else into the outlet, shit like that.
Good luck man.

first thing to check is a new bulb or at least a known good bulb.
if its not the bulb and you have good power going to the ballast then its most likely a ballast problem. here is a few links to look at.
http://www.advancetransformer.com/uploads/resources/hid-troubleshooting-guide.pdf

http://www.866blilamps.com/hid-ballast-trouble-shooting-guide.html

http://www.vossloh-schwabe.com/usa/pdf/Tchn_Troubleshooting.pdf

http://www.vossloh-schwabe.com/usa/pdf/Tchn_Troubleshooting.pdf

i had a bad timer once that did screwy things like this to my light. i changed the timer and all is well.

fdd2blk said:

i had a bad timer once that did screwy things like this to my light. i changed the timer and all is well.

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i do have it all plugged into a timer.... BRB

nope.... still nothing; guess i gotta call HTG monday

bummer. :"(

fdd2blk said:

bummer. :"(

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yeah.. bummer.. they're all flowering so i dont really know what to do with them until i can get this light issue worked out... had to chop a hijack due to fucking bud rot or mold.... and my son broke the camera, so no pics anymore

just stop right there.


so what's good lately?

fdd2blk said:

just stop right there.


so what's good lately?

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not much... just the job; gonna get a raise here shortly.... too bad you cant buy extra time in the day

gogrow said:

not much... just the job; gonna get a raise here shortly.... too bad you cant buy extra time in the day

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i was going to ask how the job was. afraid you'd tell me. lol. good to hear it's going well.

fdd2blk said:

i was going to ask how the job was. afraid you'd tell me. lol. good to hear it's going well.

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i have quickly made myself an integral part of their small company... its pretty cool, not like an average "office job"... we dress jean and t-shirt... beer on fridays... not bad

very cool.

Your problem cannot be determined from the above info. 1. is it a magnetic ballast ( big ass heavy thing, with transformer, igniter and cap ) or a new solid state (smaller and lighter ) if it is a solid state, the power dumps you spoke of might be what killed it. They tend to crap out after that sort of inrush has been repeated. If it is a magnetic, you can try the capacitor and then igniter. However if your asking , your not the guy to mess with either kind, My advice, get another new one if you plan to grow for a long time, then send the other one back to the mfg for repair if it is solid state or take it to a grow shop or electrical shop for repair if it is a magnetic. In any event, they can cook you like a serial killer on death row if your not sure of what your doing so proceed with caution. If you do get a new one and the first one is repaired, then you have a spare for the long road ahead. Good luck