strange lumitek behavior

I bought a lk 1000 lumitek ballast on ebay. bright move. i know.
so, it doesn't work for me at my house at first. then it kicked on when i was on the damned phone with lumitek tech support. woo hoo! not. later on the same day it sparks and then fails. at this point i decided to take it to the local hydro store and let them tell me if ive missed something obvious.
when i got there, i brought in the ballast that had been in my hot car all day. when the shop guy plugged it in, it fired up instantly. i was flummoxed. He tells me that i should not have been trying to fire up a 600W hortilux on the 600W dimming setting. he tells me i NEED a 1000W bulb, like he was using.
needless to say, when i got home with my new bulb and plugged it in it failed to fire. nothing. nadda.
so i took it back to the shop guy the next day and when i brought my whole setup in to him after being in my car all day, it fired right up.
i became frustrated.
he said it was an electrical issue on my end. i left, forlorn.
When I got home directly afterward, it worked no problem. i thought i saw a glimmer of hope.
when 24hrs passed and the timer routed current through the ballast, guess what happened! or didnt happen.
so i put it in the oven and warmed it up. it fired up. wtf.
obviously, i need a new ballast and im going to send this one back to lumitek. but damn. these things are so expensive. they should just work.

just dont tell customer service you tried to fire a 600w up on it and you should be golden

Sometimes you need to learn the Hard-Way.
Not to smart running a 600w bulb on a 1k system.
Chalk it up as a learning experience.

did you try plugging it into a different wall socket at your house?

yes i did. my house and my neighbor's house. it just has to be warm.
I have really tried to figure out most of this stuff and make as few mistakes as possible. there is just so much to learn.
ive read in a variety of places that you can swap bulbs if they match the output setting of your dimmer. i really didnt think i was getting away with something i should not have. the 1000W bulb i have was less expensive than the 600. i genuinely thought i was doing it right.

i ordered a solis tek that should be here on tuesday. after that ill send the lumitek back.
until then, i just have to bake it on 170 for ten minutes to get it to work.

rryyddeerr said:

yes i did. my house and my neighbor's house. it just has to be warm.
I have really tried to figure out most of this stuff and make as few mistakes as possible. there is just so much to learn.
ive read in a variety of places that you can swap bulbs if they match the output setting of your dimmer. i really didnt think i was getting away with something i should not have. the 1000W bulb i have was less expensive than the 600. i genuinely thought i was doing it right.

i ordered a solis tek that should be here on tuesday. after that ill send the lumitek back.
until then, i just have to bake it on 170 for ten minutes to get it to work.

Click to expand...

when you ordered that ballast I bet you didn't figure you would be getting it baked instead of it helping to get you baked.

ive found many ads for these on the webs that indicate you can run a variety of bulb wattages with them. pretty sure i told the tech guy at lumitek too. they are supposed to be able to run a 600, 750 or a 1000. maybe they got a little too fancy.

I think that ballast is dimmable but u still have to run the 1000 watt bulb. When dimmed it goes to 500 and 750 not 600.

thats funny, because the dial on the side of mine clearly indicates 600W.

ebay sucks, check out http://www.weedgrowingsupplies.net they are partnered with Amazon so anything ordered is directly from amazon, I just bought this ballast and its amazing

http://www.weedgrowingsupplies.net/hydrofarm-phantom-digital-ballast-1000-watt-120240v/

http://www.greners.com/h/popular-grow-lights/lumatek-1000w-digital-ballast.html

check out the description. clearly indicates you can use multiple bulbs. are they full of shit?

"If I buy the 1000 watt dimible ballast does that mean you can change the bulb from 1000 to 600 and just change the setting on the ballast and have it operate correctly. I think a lot of growers are confused about this. I believe that you can only dime down a 1000 watt bulb to 600. And if so will it still produce as well as the correct 600 watt ballast and 600 watt bulb? Can you please advise. Many of us thing you can just buy the 1000 watt ballast and the get away with buying the other different watt bulbs and grow in any of the three dimible settings. Please inform. -AdamYes you can, that is the purpose. HOWEVER! BIG DEAL HERE! IF you have a 1000w ballast and want to dim down to 600w using a 600w bulb you will NEED to turn off the ballast switch it and the bulb and then fire it back up. YOU CANNOT, switch the ballast up to 1000w with a 600w bulb unless you want a eye full of glass as the bulb will more than likely explode! BE CAREFUL when switching!-Greners Staff"

Got a message from lumatek last night. They are sending me a new ballast. I have been running a solis tek for a week now. I will keep that one for sure. But should I sell it or use it? I have a 400w metal halide from a clam tank set up a few years back. I could put that hooked up to the solis tek in my veg cab with my led setup and use the lumitek in the flower tent.