Power Outages

[Sinsemillaplease]

Recently, there have been several moments when the power has briefly dimmed or went out in my area. Most of them have been during the day when 1 400 watt core & coil ballast w/ a MH conversion lamp is on and 1 600 watt electronic ballast w/ a HPS lamp is off. When the power dims, the 400 goes out and doesn't seem to come back on without me unplugging the ballast and plugging it back in. (Next time it happens I'll be a bit more patient to make sure the ballast actually won't come back on without my intervention.) I'm always conveniently at home when these outages occur... or so I think.

 

The very first time it happened was at night when both the 600 and 400 watt lamps were on. The 600 watt lamp never actually went dark all the way when the power dimmed and immediately returned to normal function within seconds. The 400 watt went off and stayed off. I initially thought the bulb was blown, then the ballast, then the splitter it was plugged into (which I've nixed), but now I'm just confused.

 

If anyone has any guesses as to whats going on or knows something about core & coil ballasts that would explain this problem please let me know.

 

Also how detrimental are power outages to flowering plants? There will be a few storms this spring that could take out some power lines. I used to expect at least 2 outages a year back in Kalamazoo varying from an hour or two to a day at the longest. I've yet to experience spring in Ann Arbor but I'm expecting it to be pretty much the same. Would a day or two at most of darkness in the middle of flower stress the plants? Is it worth it to invest in a generator?

[MightyMightyMezz]

The lamp has to cool down before it ignites again. I don't know if it would eventually turn back on left plugged in. It happened today in my neighborhood in A2 - two brief power outs with no sign of a storm. There are delays you can get that will make it wait for a number of minutes after a power outage. I'm going to see about those.

 

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-hlc2e-15-minute-on-delay-light-control-p-1723.html

[Captain Obvious]

Is it worth it to invest in a generator?

 

 

Yes, Our Generator has run 30 hours with our first grow and it saved our crops.

 

 

Also Remember to let your lights cool off for 20 minutes befor restarting MH or HPS Lamps.

[Sinsemillaplease]

The lamp has to cool down before it ignites again. I don't know if it would eventually turn back on left plugged in. It happened today in my neighborhood in A2 - two brief power outs with no sign of a storm. There are delays you can get that will make it wait for a number of minutes after a power outage. I'm going to see about those.

 

http://www.plantlightinghydroponics.com/cap-hlc2e-15-minute-on-delay-light-control-p-1723.html

 

Good to know I'm not alone in experiencing the two outages today. I'm in Ann Arbor as well and they prompted me to finally ask somebody about this. HTG supply carries the delays as well. I'll have to pick one up next time I go to the one in Taylor.