Well, like the title says, just how hot should a ballast be?
Warm? Hot? Almost untouchable?
Thanks

My 400 watters get warm, but not scorching.. they won't burn my skin if I leave my hand on them but they were warm enough for me to want some extraction over them got a bathroom fan over each... to give you a better idea I have them screwed into the wall, but they have plastic insulation between them and the wall no melting or anyting like that...

Warm to hot, depending on the ballast. I`d say if it`s untouchable then something is wrong.

Burns

Well, I cant leave my hand on it for more than 2 seconds, its very hot. Does this mean we have a problem Houston?

my 400mh runs pretty hot. from your descrption i would say same as yours, i dont consider it a problem.

Mine is like this, one thing i would say, left my ballast 600w whilst I cloned quite a few plants on 24 hour cycle for 4 days and it burned my table and killed the ballast, suffice to say if you clone do not use 400w, 600w on 24hour cycle, 23 on 1 hour off, or use a lower wattage bulb with no ballast.

Not to bad on 18/6 as it has 6 hours to cool, even 1 hour off it can drastically cool down, howveer 24 hours basically fries the ballast.

Cost me sixty quid and lasted 4 days.

I would guess that you have a 'compact ballast' on that's an all-in-one plastic unit, as opposed to a vented, metal-boxed one - these apparently have ceramic plates in them that are designed to be able to get to high temperatures safely, and dissipate the heat.

I would recommend that anyone who is running one of these ballasts have a dedicated 120mm decent PC fan mounted on each one so as to aid in their cooling.


I would say that this is totally unacceptable behaviour for *any* ballast - only in the most extreme case of a compact unit, mounted somewhere with *no* airflow *at all* could behave like this - and even then, I think it's pretty extreme.

It'll be OK, Volcanic, but if you are worried, for extra peace of mind you could put it on something non-combustible, like a metal tray, and fit a smoke alarm over it
What make and model is your ballast?
Many have an automatic cut out feature for if it gets dangerously hot.

Are you running the right lights on the ballast?

Hello mate this is mission control Houston

Your next mission is to buy a new ballast plz use the robo-hand to remove the old one in case of security!

btw is it possible to boil eggs and cook meal est.

Too hot = it would be able to ignite a swan vesta match when match head is put on it.

Whatta guide huh? I read that in some book, personally i think you'd have already burnt your house down if your ballast was running as hot as that, ..

I have 600's, those ballasts are hot sealed ballasts i beleive are designed to take the heat and they do chuck out a load of heat,

I think you have a normal running ballast there.

my 600hps has been on just 1 hour now, its cool, the 400mh has been on 2 hours and its hot. planet sunlight to ground control, we could have a problem at source..over

well some thought s here...

Is your ballast analog or digital? I have two lumatek 600W digital ballasts (love them!). They are small, completly silent and do get quite warm (not hot), but have an aluminum heat case case for a cover. They sit side by side on a small shelf high in my room and have a small fan that comes on when they turn ion, that blows over both and down between the center of them.

With the fan the ballasts only get a wee bit warm. I do recommend the digitals as they are more energy efficient (use less electricity), bulbs last longer and stay brighter through their life. Mine have a 5 year warranty. And did I mention they make NO NOISE!!!

my older ballast is a 600hps runs cooler, its a larger type than my new ballast is a compact power pacak 400 sodium/halide and it runs hotter, i'm going to keep my eye on it, i'm hoping its ok, not had it a year yet. thanks volcanic

Mine don't get warm....well i say that, you can feel a slight warmth, or at least the metal case isn't cold when it's they're running anyway.

I know alot of people have ballasts that get hot, but i wouldnt feel comfortable using one

The ballast in question is a 400w maxicrop compact ballast(analogue). Im sat here trying to figure out how to wire up a pc fan(so if anyone`s done it before, or knows a link ).
Its currently sat in the corner of the room on a concrete floor(was the safest place I could think of for now). As for changing to digital, it`ll just have to wait. My bike needs a rebuild badly(typically when the nice weather appears ) and there`s a host of jobs to be done around the house too. Also, her that must be obeyed wouldn`t be too impressed either I should imagine considering i`ve only just bought the thing.
Thanks for your replies, i`ll just keep a beady eye on it for the meanwhile.

@Ripp. I think it could cook an egg easily. (I`ll try sometime this week, and upload a pic or 2 )

Do you have an old nokia charger? That'll do it.
Or a ....Um I forget the name, big plug that has a screw that you can turn to the correct voltage that should be on a lable on your fan. Usually 12v.
First time I tried I made the mistake of wiring one directly to a normal plug...BANG!!!
You don't wanna do that

Oh hay! I forgot to mention. HEAT IS THE NUMBER ONE DESTROYER OF BALLASTS! Your ballast's life will be shorter and it's energy output less efficient if it is running hot. Get a fan on it m8!

Agreed, will post pic of fucked ballast, even brownish colouring which shows up well on the black ballast, just died, table was fucked got to sand it down and re varnish, will show pic of that also, well burnt.

Was a uk BS (British Standard) Ballast, bought from 3countyhydroponics and it a well known top make of ballast, even takes both metal halide bulbs and also hps bulbs and had not been long on the market at the time, maxi something cannot think of the name will look when lights on, currently flowering and in my grow room.

Perhaps this is the reason why they state when cloning use 23/1 hour off, to cool ballast on the off chance you use 400w or 600w to clone several plants with, was well hot and worried me on day three, had smoke alarms and fire estinquisher in room, just as well.

Made me think twice on cloning 24/7 lights on, certainly would not use 400w or 600w again to clone plants, No Ballast again either due to the lights needing to be on for 23/24 hours for cloning, could of burnt the house down.

To much risk with dodgy sellers and legit sellers who have the odd reject from them. British Standard counts for shit as long as you have a label to put on claiming as such.

Simple enviro on e40 socket for me, they also state less light is better for rooting clones so works both ends.

I only use fluro tubes for cuttings, veg and Moms. I have no problems at all although there is some heat build up. Nothing a bit of ventilation can't cure. Cuttings show one fixture with two, two foot tubes in it. Mom is to the right of the veg section I have 5, 4 foot fixtures in there. You can see the lower ones in the rear where the cuttings first go once transplanted.