Help!

I just switched my lights from 18/6 to 12/12 YAY FLOWERING but wait.... whats this the new 175w Metal halide lightbulb and lamp (which i bought from htg supply a month ago seems to be faulty.) the light will start to warm up for about 30 seconds and then blows itself out? Is it possible that the first serious growlight i bought just decided to die at the most exciting part of growth (flowering) i am so annoyed and if anyone can help id be so greatful. in the meantime i will continue to stay on HTG supplys phone line, waiting, and waiting and waiting for someone to give a shit....

OK, bad things happen, relax. It could be a faulty ballast, or it could be a faulty bulb. It sounds like something in the ballast is faulty so when it heats up it fails. You could try a new bulb, then you will know if it is the ballast. If you just bought this light, HTG should offer some kind of warranty. I bought mine from them also.

FYI: metal halide and high pressure sodium bulbs should be handled with care and never ever touch the glass part of the bulb without wiping it down with a clean cloth afterwards. Finger oil can create hot spots on the bulb and make it burn out.

true that,never touch the bulb with your hands or the oils will fry them every time,cost me 2 MH bulbs learning that lesson.lol

ok so i brought the light to a different room in my house and plugged it in again and it almost didnt start up but then all the sudden it worked, so i broiught it back to my grow room and plugged it in to about 4 or 5 different outlets and none of them worked, it seems like for some reason it just worked all of the sudden, only for a second, ima try and leave it off for a while and see what happens

ooh...maybe shouldn't do that.Find a spot where it works and see if the fuse for that area is the same as the one you want to use,you may not have enough juice to fire your ballast.

whats the story with HTG supply? anyway i sent the bulb wrapped in like 4 layers of bubble rap crammed in a box back to their store so they can hopefully quickly send me a new one... ppl in my area keep getting busted too lol... i just hope that bulb gets back fast, my first female apeared, ive never gotten to sexing before and im stoked that i have at least 1 girl out of 10

Do this while waiting for your new bulb to show. Go to home depot or lowes and buy a second bulb. Start using that one immediately and when you replacement shows just stash it away as a backup. this way u won't have to worry about acquiring a new bulb fast, because you already have a replacement waiting. Second. MH and HPS ballast require a short period of time before they can be turned on from being turned off. that means that if you just unplugged it, you cannot immediately plug it back in and have it work. you unplug, wait for a few minutes, approx 5 and then plug it back in again. Are you actively cooling the ballast with a fan pointed directly at it? An overheating ballast will just shut off. Is this a remote ballast (wire leading to the light) or a built in ballast (ballast + light)?

i had my ballast out in the open, no no fans are pointing on it but no lights were either, might as well poke around at home depot, you have a good point, just low on funds for going back to college, oh well, investments for the future. i plugged it in, and left it for like 5 hours, sometimes iid unplug it, wait for it to cool, then wait 1 hr and look, and only every so often would the light turn on, its funny that u mention the ballast just shutting off.... cuz i can remember dozens of times where it would get half to its full potential and shut off,.... but i dont think it would do that as a result of heat cuz the light would blow out within 15 seconds of the light being plugged in, and it would do that at 15 min intervels over and over.... i wanted to make sure i didnt send back a perfectly fine bulb so i tested it alot, hope i was right

EDIT oh and i got it from HTG supply, i heard they have a bad rep but ive never had it confirmed