How to avoid hot strikes?

[nvthis]

Ahhhh...HOT START/ Hot Strike.... lol

I understand now...lol

It's a controler accessory (to keep from reigniting the Lamp while it is cooling down)...

Hey NV... Do you use a lot of C.A.P. devices?

I've been thinking of exploring microcontrollers (CO2, temp, humidity, etc...).

This is one of those things I have to invest in later when I build a closed system.

I was at my local hydro store recently and they were showing me all products by C.A.P.'s competitors.

I have a lot to look into...

BTW... Thanks for bringing this device to attention and Congradulations on the Pic of the Month (Shitz Nice)...
B

I currently use none. But ima 'bout to get this.

 

[balorevileye]

You could wire a magnetic breaker in line. So if a surge happens it will throw the breaker and you would have to manually flip it back. I lazily have used some for on and off switches

If what **** Dog is saying is kinda what your after, how to do it exactly is you can get a 25 amp single phase contactor with two normally open contacts. Bring your live wire from your fuseboard to the bottom of the two different normally open contacts and loop the two together. Now at the top of the contactor at the other side of the normally open contacts above, one of the contacts can be used to supply your equipment that you want protecting. The other normally open contact can be wired to one of the contacts for the coil of the contactor and the neutral (ground) is connected to the other (the two previous contacts used are typically labelled A1+ A2 on the contactor.) How the reset button is added is by running a wire from the bottom of the normally open contacts (at the bottom of the contactor), thru a normally open spring loaded push button onto whatever coil of the contactor (A1 or A2) you made the live. This makes the contactor isolate your equipment in the event that supply dropped off etc and you would manually reset it by pressing the push button.

Sorry Ive no picture but Il post one up later to simplify it as its easier than ive described. Its really handy though and cheap too!!!!

 

[IRISH]

got my mind running also Nv. been searching through loads of hot strike/manuel restart breakers for hours. brilliant. ...

wow evileye, sounds like your good with wiring things. it's good to have someone on our team here with this knowledge. ex navy?...

 

[nvthis]

got my mind running also Nv. been searching through loads of hot strike/manuel restart breakers for hours. brilliant

You seeing anything good? You can link me up in PM if you do man

 

[Growdude]

Damn... balor lost me...

Are these standard breakers your calling single phase contactors?
I've got to go spend a few hours at Home Depot after Reading htis post... lol

But that device K-Car found makes a lot of sense.
Sure beats a huge battery bank or a UPS.... lol
BTW Thanks Kcar

Hes is talking about a contactor or relay, not a breaker.

Basicly you are wiring it so the normally open control contacts,not the main contacts, hold the relay energizied once you push the momentary push button.

 

[leafminer]

What's wrong with a 'hot strike' as you call it? It's a perfectly normal thing and built in to the running specification of bulb and ballast . . . all that's happening is that if you have a temporary power outage, the arc extinguishes and then the bulb has to cool down until the vapour pressure lowers to the point where the main arc strikes again. No biggie.

 

[balorevileye]

Hes is talking about a contactor or relay, not a breaker.

Basicly you are wiring it so the normally open control contacts,not the main contacts, hold the relay energizied once you push the momentary push button.

Ya, its a contactor or relay Im refering to. Im on holiday at the moment so couldnt post that photo and was doing it from from memory. In reply to Irish's question Im from Ireland and fix street lights 5 days a week so Im sick of wiring and fixing stuff like that!! It comes in handy at times as its makes a difference wiring control box's that do a lot of the work for you. Im working on a remote monitoring system 4a hydro setup that sends daily updates of reservoir level, ph and cf and sends a warning if somethings wrong but thats sumthing for another thread i suppose!!

As for if somebody is afraid that a hot strike damages the bulb it doesnt, the superheated ionised gas in the inner tube of the just needs to cool down a fraction for the ignitors pulse (the little bolt of lightning it looks like if you look closely at the inner tube) to excite the sodium vapour (presuming its a Son bulb).

If your wiring your own system as I do with magnetic ballasts etc then just watch out for anticycling ignitors. On powering up these only try to light the bulb for about 20 seconds and then stop until power is cut. If the bulb is lit then its on and if it hasnt lit (due to a hot strike) then it wont and should come on as normal on the next days cycle which is a bit of a waste.

 

[leafminer]

Ah, no problem. So far as igniters are concerned, it sounds like you might have been thinking about mercury arc rectifiers, outlandish things I used to deal with as an engineer. I think early mercury vapour lamps used them too. There's no igniter as such in modern discharge lamps.

 

[balorevileye]

Ah, no problem. So far as igniters are concerned, it sounds like you might have been thinking about mercury arc rectifiers, outlandish things I used to deal with as an engineer. I think early mercury vapour lamps used them too. There's no igniter as such in modern discharge lamps.

Not quite so right!!! There is an igniter in every son lighting circuit (including built in to the digital son ballasts), when their separate as we use them with the magnetic ballasts except where you have a son bulb with a built in igniter (usually situated below the arc tube and it looks like a small black glassy tube). Mercury vapour bulbs just use a ballast and no igniter, ive never heard of a mercury arc igniter but all mercury gear over here is being phased out so their a thing of the past I presume.

 

[Old_SSSC_Guy]

sorry for the old bump but there is a 15 minute delay relay made specifically to stop hot strikes. You can google "CAP 15 Minute delay" to find it at a lot of grow shops.

if its a spike your lights will prolly stay on anyway. a "hot strike preventer" just delays any restart (usually from power outage, not spikes) for 15 mins so the bulbs can cool to restrike normally. but if you've seen any outdoor HID light you'll see that on power out they just restart normally once the buld has cooled. doesn't -seem- to effect bulb life much...

Well, winter is fast approaching and it's got me thinking...

I read somewhere (can't remember now) about some piece of equipement that will shut your system down during power surges and you have to reset them manually. Is this right?

Mine runs through the circuit breaker (of course) and through a heavy duty strip. This won't stop restrikes during momentary loss, though. So what to do, what to do? What does everyone else do? Ideas anyone?

Oh, also, I shine at night so sleeping through any event is highly likely..