A two month old ballast is dead? What crap. Most of the electronics coming out of China (which is about 99% of what we have) seems to be getting crappier and crappier all the time. Stuff just breaks, almost immediately. I try anymore to stick with German or American made, but that really jacks the price, if you can even find it. Can you get a replacement right away?

I spoke with my Major Professor about the 24 hr light thing. It's curious because obviously people have success growing cannabis under continuous light. But the Circadian clocks in plants do more than simply time-keep for the flowering process, they also regulate hormone pathways and gene expression/suppression, which changes with the plant's development. I'm not sure how Cannabis gets around this problem, but studies have shown that C3 plants (which is most plants other than desert plants, which are C4) will not develop properly without a dark cycle to set their clocks by. In some cases the plant cannot reach maturity if given continuous light.