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teckS

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I just bought my new Hyrdotek 430w Son Agro HPS... and i have had it running for about 4 hours now.. it it working fien... but the ballast is putting out a BRUTAL smell of burning plastic.. it as also fairly warm which i know is normal.. so im thinking maybe its just buring off any shit its got sitting inside of it... will this stop soon? has anyone else experienced this? or is my ballast screwy???
 
I think you should contact who you bought it from, or the manufacturer and ask them.
It never happened with any of the 8 ballasts I've owned.
 
nothing should be sitting in it and if it was plastic it wouldve burned off within 10 min being turned on . i havent had that exsperience . maybe someone else has but i doubt it . my advice would be to call a certified electrician or where you purchased it and temperary shut it off you may have a short in it burning some wires internally. or you can wait on another reply but thats sounds kinda scary to me to leave it running overnight.
 
ps ganga you beat me to the gun but your reply wasnt there when i started . but anyways there you go 2 replies .
 
I just realized im a bit of an idiot... i have the ballast hooked up to a power bar which is plugged into an un-grounded timer.. i plan to get a new grounded timer very soon, because i know grounding the light is important.. but could it be causing this stink? or possible shorts??
 
A bad/no ground will usually either make it not work or shock you when you touch it not just burn, how intense is the smell? if you have any question about it, turn it off. Is it reconditioned or new? I have smelled a little of what yer talking about but it shoud not be a strong odor at all, I have seen plenty of 1000w ballasts that were bad out of the box, be safe.
 
this is a brand new ballast, its fairly warm, and the smell is REALLY intense.. i opened it up to see what was up, and the transformer is really warm and it seems to be just melting glue that is on the transformer... non or the wires are shorting or melting.. im gonna call the store i got it from anyways tho... but it REALLY stinks...
 
Does it smell like a really distinctive burn? almost rancid smelling? If So.

unplug that thing FAST!!!!!.

Before it catches fire. Transformers like that are called step-up transformers. So it is standard voltage and current and stepping it up to the voltage and current needed to run the bulb. It will simmer then can catch on fire. The transformer or the Capacitor may be defective.

Unplug and call the company ASAP. This is a dangerous situation.
 
ok so the smell is slightly fading.. i called the store i got it from and he said that there is a thin film on the inside of the casing which will burn a bit and smell like burning plastic for a few days untill it burns away.. he said it was nothing to worry about atm,... but if the smell is not gone by next week then to call him and he will replace it.. i have been constanly monitoring it tho to make sure there are no sign of physical burns or smoke or other melting.... let me know if i should be really worried about this... ohh and mutt.. it smells like putting your nose directly next to a glue gun that has been on for a while.
 
i would still ask to replace it now .so no worrys next week. it doesnt make any sense for a plastic film to be anywhere inside of electrical parts. i can see on a new alternator or something that turns inside to smell like a burning smell that is ussually the brushes wearing inn. but there is no moving parts inside your ballast.
 
k the parts in red are where there is smellyness.. not any of the blue parts... and i didn't mean a film IN the electrical parts.. there is a thin plastic film coating the OUTSIDE of the transformer.. it seems to be burning off.. smell is dying off a bit..

ballast.JPG
 
thats greats news there buddy. no worrys now . gl with your grow and keep us informed on it .
 

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