Need help with hps troubleshooting

Hello everyone I am requiring someone with good knowledge of hps lighting/ballast to provide me with an answer.

I recently purchased a 400watt hps/reflector/ballast kit from htg supply. The kit looks well made with nice thick cords and generally well built. Here is the problem/question, After I recived it the bulb fired up fine. Then after I installed it in the grow area it came on fine again. But when I finished setting everything up and tried to turn it on for the "real run" it wont come back on even after waiting 30+ minutes for it to turn on. I made sure to clean off fingerprints off the bulb and was very gentle with it. Also the ballast is magnetic and makes a buzzing noise but wont fire the bulb up. All the parts are brand new.

I called htg supply and told them basically the same thing I told you all , and they diagnosed it as a "faulty bulb", so they are sending me another out today (gave me a tracking # within 20 minutes of calling them) Im hoping they are correct and it is a faulty bulb because my girls are in dire need to flower. And the 600watt I have is a piece of junk(lol) my luck sucks. The bulb is htg's own brand 55,000 lumen 400watt hps with 30% more blue. Im wondering if anyone else has had this problem with a new bulb or if anyone else has a diffrent diagnosis then they did. Im hoping its just the bulb , and not the ballast because its already gonna take till monday for me to recieve the new bulb and it would suck to have to wait even longer for a new ballast. Can anyone tell me what price a 400watt hps bulb would be at lowes/home depot as a temp solution until my good bulb gets here on monday? And can someone please reassure my parinoid ass that its just the bulb ? lol any input would be greatly appreciated.

a bad capacitor will kill a good bulb in a short time.

I posted Advance Ballast's
"Pocket Guide to High Intensity Discharge Lamp Ballasts" link here and I hoped it would be a "Sticky Post".

http://www.advancetransformer.com/up...ting-guide.pdf

Everyone using these shoud have this on their hard drive. imo

Shov

Thx for the pdf links shovelhandle , i hope the new ballast dosent have a bad capacitor. That would suck and be a hassle to return it. I hope its a faulty bulb like the hydro store Thinks that I got the kit from online. Well I will know for sure on monday.

if it doesnt work again post here man! it could be a few things we can help u out with! :)

Well I got my new hps bulb today and it works! 55,000 lumens of budding power. I was so happy it actually turned on lol. It is nice and bright. It is a little warmer than I thought it would be so I might have to invest in some sort of cool tube for it. But it is on al the moment and my plants are gonna finally start there 12/12 cycle tonight. Thx for the offer for help tom, if my light breaks down again ill be sure to give you a message.

good to hear, pretty obvious it was the bulb if the ballast was operating fine..

gonna start up a log?? im very interested to see how your babies turn out

Ive had a grow log for a while now in the closet/cabinet section (I have a walk-in closet) I finally made the move from cfl's for veg to hps for flower.
I will post some updated pics tonight, Ive been waiting to post updated pics till I had my hps working. These are all bagseed plants all three female: 2 indica dominant , 1 sativa dominant (all have many many female preflowers) , Next grow Im gonna be doing a couple of my bagseed clones and hashberry and northern lights ( I already have the seeds)
I have been waiting so long for a number of reasons #1 im just getting back into growing after many years , #2 I decided about halfway through vegg that I would rather use a hps to flower.(along with 150 watts of cfl's) #3 I have been learning my plants needs and growing in general.

My thread:
http://boards.cannabis.com/closet-ca...seed-grow.html

Pics of my girls (these pics are a couple weeks old there even bigger now lol)
http://boards.cannabis.com/attachmen...nickybitch.jpg
http://boards.cannabis.com/attachmen...riteindica.jpg
http://boards.cannabis.com/attachmen...sativabush.jpg

Glad u got it fixed man! :)

Im glad I got my light working but wow they sure do put out lots of heat. I think there is a cooltube in my lights future. Thx everyone.

hey rootdoctor, i also bought a 400 watt hps from htg supply a little over a year ago. and i just thought id let u know that they r great people. mine worked great for about 7 months and out of nowhere started giving me trouble and i called them up and they had me send mine back and said they would replace it or repair. 6 days after sending it i had a whole new ballast reflector and bulb. and i didnt even send them the bulb i originally had back with the light. i spoke with a guy named tony and he was a great help and also told me that all of the htg supply branded ballast r warrantied for three years from date of purchase. so just know ur in good hands when buying from them. the new unit i got works great and he also told me that this new unit is under a three year warranty from the day they sent the new unit out!!! well anyway glad to hear bout ur light working and good luck on the rest of ur crops. happy growing! later

Yes they were very helpful and was quick to send me a replacment bulb. Thanks for the heads up.