1000 watt light in veg goes off periodically

I have a 1000 watt hps bulb and a 600watt metal halide in my veg room. Lately the 1000 watt occasionally goes off for less than a minute , then comes back on.I’m not sure if it’s the bulb or possibly the ballast. It is connected to a magnetic ballast that is pushing ten years of age. I was told by my grow store I could bring both in to be tested. I hate to leave room with dimmer lighting for several hours. i will be moving plants into flower room in next couple weeks. Does anyone know if this will will confuse the girls too much before flipping? Any help is appreciated.

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I’m not sure if the plants will be confused or not, but refiring the bulb without significant cooling time will drastically reduce the output and life of your bulb. If they’re willing to test I would get it in there asap. Chances are the ballast is on its last leg, but that’s shooting from the hip.

If nothing else, you could just take a peek at bulb base and electrical connections. If you don’t see anything out of ordinary, I’d replace the bulb and ballast.

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Thanks for your suggestion. I guess I’ll head to the store and have them checked.

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Sounds like the Ballast to me it hits a certain temp than shuts down to cool bulbs tend to work or not work having a long arc if they are failing only occasionally lighting properly. My last ballast did similar thing shortly before it fried a bulb and died

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Thanks for your input, I’m just waiting for a little more money saved to
get new ballast,hope bulb survives till then ! I’m new to this forum
stuff,but got a couple good inputs. I appreciate your response.

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i agree with the ballast being the problem. If it were the bulb it would just go out and not come back on. Bulbs will get dimmer before failure.

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At the rate he said it was refiring that was my fear with the bulb. Even if it’s not completely fried, wouldn’t take long before output was impacted quite a bit right?

The bulbs are rated for cycles more than hours if they don’t cool properly between arc’s they can blow or simply die

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Out of likes, but thanks for reply.

Well I have decided to get a new ballast. Does anyone know what the average
lifespan of a magnetic 1000k ballast might be? I know the one I have has
got to be about 10 years old. I also have a few of the early digital
ballast" Nextgen" in my flower room that are approaching 8 or 9 years as
well. One of them is loosing one of the fan bearings and has been
moaning,so I know it won’t be long for that one as well. I’m afraid to try
taking it down and cleaning the fan area for fear it will die. Is it
recommended to clean the fans and if so what is the best way to do this?
This forum thing is kinda cool !

Some of those older magnetic ballasts have been around 15+ years. They usually do pretty good if looked after. Make sure you’re not coiling up cables or anything, and keep them clean and cool as possible.

That being said, I feel like if you’re in the neighborhood of 5-10 years you’ve gotten reasonable life out of them.

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