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Take the bulb back. Tell em your back up bulb that is old works in the ballast so it can't possiably be the ballast. They should give ya a new bulb (be sure to explain how it only worked for a few minutes) then try the new bulb and you'll know for sure then.
-------------------- All creatures tremble when faced with violence. All creatures fear death, all love life. If we can only see ourselves in others, then how could we possibly hurt another creature?
Thank you for your advice. I bought the bulb online. I am pretty sure it was the ballast. I wouldn't want the company to pay for my mistake. Either way though, by the time a replacement get here it would be too late. I think next time I will invest in a few ballasts/lights before I attempt anything. It was my mistake expecting a ballast that fucked up two bulbs a couple years back at a different place to behave differently.
I didn't have this problem with some older type ballasts years ago.
Are digital ballasts the way to go? The one that I'm not going to use anymore was a digital ballast that could switch between HPS and MH. Yes, I did buy the correct HPS bulb for the system.
i don't know anything on digi ballasts but if you're going to hold over you plants with shop lights, get the 5600k daylight bulbs. i know they are a but pricey at $10 usd for a pack of 2, but the extra lumin output is worth it.
I had started them with those kinds of lights (but with the aquarium/plant flouros, not clear as to whether that is better or worse than the "daylight" ones). They needed more so I ended up sending for a new HPS bulb. The ballast appeared to kill the bulb overnight. Anyway, I ended up moving them elsewhere as their situation was not viable here.
I thank you guys for your advice. Thought I would post a random link to an interesting building website. http://www.earthship.net/
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