HashSmoke420
Active Member
So I was gifted by a friend a MH lamp, 400 W with ballast and everything ready to go, I must admit a great gift! However there are a few concerns which I am actually very frightened about ...
1st - The heat, the ballast is attached to the reflector and where the lamp is, the ballast and the tops of the reflector could be reaching to over 90 Celsius, I know MH runs hot, but is this hot normal? I can't stand to touch it for more than 2 seconds and even this is painful to a degree, but doesn't leave a burning on my finger.
2nd - The noise, the noise is confirmed to come from the ballast, I investigated and it appears it's coming from vibrations, I tightened the bolts on the lamp itself this decreased the vibrations a bit, I also added some tire material to furthermore decrease vibration sounds and now it's bearable, still the noise happens only when the lamp is turned on for 15 - 20 minutes if it was cool before, or if it wasn't it happens in up to a minute. If it is cool, then the noise is just a very tiny buzzing which is hardly noticeable with another background sounds.
3rd - Once the lamp is lit, it loads for up 3 - 4 minutes, before it's fully loaded it flickers a lot and very quickly.
4rd - I understand that the lamp is a Quartz Metal Halide, but something REALLY strange happened. First off in the arc tube (the second tube inside the big bulb tube) there are orange-ish dots, I think this is fine, the lamp had been used before for a certain amount of time, however after 18 hours of use now I notice that the arc tube's defect-looking big circle like thing which is a bit over the other regular surface has now been colored with a white-ish powder-like juju ...
Pictures and a video:
- The whole lamp
- The bulb, showing the orange-ish dots and the defect-looking circle-like thing in the middle of the arc tube. Right now it's about not noticeable especially from the image. But check on the third image!
- Here you can clearly see the defect-looking circle-like thing in the middle of the arc tube which is now painted sorta white-ish with a powder-like looking thing, but in fact it doesn't fall off whilst I'm moving the lamp.
- Video showing the buzz when the lamp is fully loaded/heated.
I am confused whether all this I experience is regular behavior or something is wrong ... Appreciate all the help and happy growing everyone!
1st - The heat, the ballast is attached to the reflector and where the lamp is, the ballast and the tops of the reflector could be reaching to over 90 Celsius, I know MH runs hot, but is this hot normal? I can't stand to touch it for more than 2 seconds and even this is painful to a degree, but doesn't leave a burning on my finger.
2nd - The noise, the noise is confirmed to come from the ballast, I investigated and it appears it's coming from vibrations, I tightened the bolts on the lamp itself this decreased the vibrations a bit, I also added some tire material to furthermore decrease vibration sounds and now it's bearable, still the noise happens only when the lamp is turned on for 15 - 20 minutes if it was cool before, or if it wasn't it happens in up to a minute. If it is cool, then the noise is just a very tiny buzzing which is hardly noticeable with another background sounds.
3rd - Once the lamp is lit, it loads for up 3 - 4 minutes, before it's fully loaded it flickers a lot and very quickly.
4rd - I understand that the lamp is a Quartz Metal Halide, but something REALLY strange happened. First off in the arc tube (the second tube inside the big bulb tube) there are orange-ish dots, I think this is fine, the lamp had been used before for a certain amount of time, however after 18 hours of use now I notice that the arc tube's defect-looking big circle like thing which is a bit over the other regular surface has now been colored with a white-ish powder-like juju ...
Pictures and a video:
- The whole lamp
- The bulb, showing the orange-ish dots and the defect-looking circle-like thing in the middle of the arc tube. Right now it's about not noticeable especially from the image. But check on the third image!
- Here you can clearly see the defect-looking circle-like thing in the middle of the arc tube which is now painted sorta white-ish with a powder-like looking thing, but in fact it doesn't fall off whilst I'm moving the lamp.
I am confused whether all this I experience is regular behavior or something is wrong ... Appreciate all the help and happy growing everyone!
Last edited:
It was actually my biggest concern as I read that flickering does indicate end of life cycle but I was confused how exactly they imply it. Though the behavior I witnessed seemed normal even to my inexperienced eye. Again, great thanks and happy growing!
