Seeking advice for smoking ballast

[benni]

Hello,

I have a 48" light fixture that has two 150 MH and two T5 actinic, plus moon lights. One of my halides started turning on and off during the day and then started blowing the circuit breaker. I took off the panel cover and plugged it in and the ballast began to overheat and started smoking. I know close to little about this subject and am wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what I should do next. Meaning, do I need to buy a new ballast or could there be another possiblity such as getting a new capacitor (what ever that is). If I do need to but a new ballast or any other part, does anyone have any suggestion on where I should buy one or if there is a better or worse kind to buy. Thanks for your help.

 

[Len]

You can buy new capacitors for analog ballasts, but that's unlikely the problem. My guess is there is a short somewhere in your ballast coil, or possibly wiring (which can be fixed if you know what to look for). If I were you, I would definitely replace the whole ballast unit. If something is smoking, it's a huge fire danger. And if it's overheating and smoking, multiple components of your ballast are probably already damaged as a result. No reason to risk such dangers IMO.

All the mail order vendors have ballasts for sale at reasonable prices. Personally, I'd get an electronic ballast like Icecap or Lumatek or Galaxy. They'll run most bulbs well, unlike conventional ballasts that are designed for specific bulb types.

 

[Anonymous]

What Len said.

Fire's suck.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Depends if it's electronic or magnetic. Electronic ones you might as well toss them and buy a new one. Magnetic ones can be fixed, however depending upon how many parts need to be replaced (in reality they don't have but 3 parts) it might be cheaper for a new ballast.

Out of curiosity what brand was the fixture?

 

[Anonymous]

You can try a new cap (capacitor) if your ballast is a mag/coil type. The best bet is to borrow a cap from someone with a identical ballast, and if that work, get a replacement cap. These caps are not usual item in most electronic store, however. Try Grainger if you get it to work with a loaner. If the coil is tossed (you can measure the resistance if you have a accurate multimeter, with power off, obviously, and check that with the specification.) recycle it.

 

[benni]

Thanks everyone. Don't know any to borrow that from. I am thinking I should just go ahead and get a new one(like Office Space). Would this be a good time to upgrade? Can I buy a 250watt ballast and change my bulb to 250 as well?

 

[Len]

Now is a great time to move up to 250 150W has too limited a choice of bulbs, and it's not very bright either.

Personally, if one of my ballast got super hot and smoked, I'd ditch the whole thing instead of trying to fix individual components. I would fear that running out of spec damaged multiple components.

 

[benni]

Ok-I am definetly going to go with a 250. The question for me is what to buy-I have looked around a bit but am still confused. I see external ballasts (Bulkreefsupply only carries those) but I also see internal which means I need to figure out how to fit it in my housing. Also, some say they are electric-what advantages/disadvantages? Any other buying tips/information would be much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Magnetic coil - heavy, loud, gets hot, generally fairly reliable, repairable, less expensive.

Electronic (aka digital) - lighter, switchable (many models offer a dimming capability, as well as the ability to drive varying bulbs, not an issue here but hey), much quieter, run cooler, more expensive.
I'm not positive, but I believe they can save your bulbs if you ever have power issues (had power outages here a couple of weeks ago that killed CFLs and NO fluoros, must have been a surge or something).

I say be careful and check out each brand. In some circles Lumateks have been problematic, I've heard nothing negative about Galaxy. Just be sure your selected ballast will run your preferred bulbs and you should be golden.

 

[benni]

I have been doing some looking around at ballasts. On Bulkreefsupply.com they only carry Blue Wave Remote Pulse Ballasts. I consider Bulkreefsupply a quality and trustworthy business that only carry quality products. So, I am leaning towards purchasing a ballast thru them, but am waiting a response to a question from them first. I am going to ask the same question here so I can hopefully get a few opinions. I asked them what it means to hook a Blue Wave ballast up and am wondering if I bought a dual 250 watt ballast, could I keep the bulb/reflectors hooked up to the splicing box in the light housing, plug the power cord that is hooked to those bulbs into the outlets in the ballast and have it work? In my head, it seems that simple but am unsure if that is how they work. Anyone have any thoughts on this?