Phantom PHBC3151 II CMh Ceramic Metal Halide Digital, 315W, 120V/240V Ballast

Top of the line product, super long power cords whisper quiet

I received this item and immediately noted that it felt very light in comparison to other similar products that I’ve handled. I plugged it in and of course nothing happened so I put it on my kitchen scale to confirm what I already believed to be true, and of course I was right.Listed weight is 6.29lbs and the weight of the item I received was less than half of that!!! I would not recommend buying anything from this company as this feels to me like a flat out scam!!

The fixture and ballast arrived in perfect condition, brand new in the box. After I set up the fixture in my tent I ran the ballast outside the environment because there is no cooling fans or dimming options, and I wanted to keep a fan on it to reduce heat. From the first fire of the lamp, there were small power surges and the lamp flickers as it gets up to temp. Once it reaches full intensity, it does become stabilized and performs as expected as far as coverage area of around 4x4 or less. After about 36 hours running I came into the room and the lights were off and still plugged in, Bad Sign. I unplugged the ballast let it set for 30 min and plugged it back in, it did Re strike the lamp, the flickering and power surges are slightly more intense now, and after 5 min of running it went out again on its own. After repeating the reset process again, the lamp did not re strike correctly for almost 4 attempts! After achieving re strike on attempt #5, the light since has performed as it should, but occasionally I’m still getting the flickering in the lamp… Ambient Room Temp is 72 and temp hasn’t reached over 85 with fans running, no exhaust. I plan to keep them on the 18/6 timer for 30 days and hope this works as a break in period almost, before updating this review further!