Riddle me this - Powerbar 5.1 issue

[KJoFan]

So, I walked through the room with my tanks earlier and noticed one of the lights that should be on was not. So, I took a peek at the P4 to see what if anything the issue was. My Touch told me no PAB devices detected, which included the Touch and 2x Powerbars. I unplugged, re-plugged everything in various combinations and powered on/off the P4 itself to no avail.

I popped into GCC and no PAB devices could be detected. Eventually I got it to recognize the Touch without the Powerbars plugged in. I connected one Powerbar which meant both were connected as the second is daisychained to the first via PAB.

Once I did this my MH fixtures powered on, though they weren't supposed to at that time. After about 30 seconds and a loud buzzing from one MH fixture they both went off which seemed to trip both Powerbars.

Now, both powerbars seem to work fine except when I plug my MH fixtures in. Either one seems to trip the bar and I'm not sure why, they worked just fine up until now. One fixture fires with the buzz from the bulb, the other doesn't fire at all but still trips the powerbar.

Is this an issue with the two outlets potentially or possibly an issue with both MH fixtures/ballasts? I find this latter to be hard to believe but anything is possible.

If anyone has followed this ramble this far....let me know what you think.

 

[Reefing Madness]

If your getting buzzing, one of your ballasts is going out

 

[KJoFan]

If your getting buzzing, one of your ballasts is going out

Even if the buzzing is definitely coming from the fixture/bulb itself?

 

[KJoFan]

And for that matter, is it possible both ballasts/fixtures have gone bad? One is brand new and hasn't been used beyond tested out a few times. Both fixtures aren't even coming on daily because the tank is just now cycled. Seems fishy to me.

 

[KJoFan]

@Vinny@GHLUSA Any ideas off the bat? When I get home from work today I want to do a little more experimenting with different outlets and even plugging the MH fixtures into just a power strip or something not through the P4 to see if they really are the cause. I just don't know why they'd suddenly both go bad when I'm not even using them yet on a daily basis.

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA Verified Sponsor]

What other equipment did you have connected to the same Powerbar?
Were both MH ballasts connected to the same PB, different outlets?

Our PB5.1 is rated for up to 15A max. Keeping this in mind, perhaps the tripped may be caused by an overload. That's my first thought.

Do plug the ballasts into another strip and let us know how that works out for you.

 

[KJoFan]

@Vinny@GHLUSA I thought that myself, but when I did the math of what's drawing from that powerbar I thought it should be fine.

However, I plugged each ballast into just a wall outlet and each worked fine, neither tripped the GFCI. Then, I proceeded to plugging one ballast at a time back into the original powerbar, each ballast worked in both outlets I'd been using.

But, when I plugged one ballast (the same one that buzzed in the original post and buzzed again the first time it fired today) into the powerbar I got the random PAB connection error. I flipped the powerbar off and on via it's switch and it was fine after that.

I plugged both ballasts back into their original outlets on the one powerbar and both fired and have stayed on now for half an hour or so, where before they'd trip after less than a minute.

So I still have no answers even though both lights are working currently. Unless, at the time of issue my heaters were running in conjunction with firing the lights and it was too much and overloaded the powerbar, but I don't really know for sure.

I do have a second powerbar I could move one MH ballast to if it seems like it was just an overload issue.

The powerbar is firing the following:
Aqualifter pump for ATO
2x Jager 300w heaters
2x 250w Reefbrite MH electronic ballasts
4x 15" Reefbrite XHO blue led strips
Profilux Touch display

The second powerbar fires only:
24" ATI 6 bulb fixture
ATI fans

 

[Vinny@GHLUSA Verified Sponsor]

It does sound like an overload issue when everything is ON. Especially when MH ballasts just turn ON, the amperage draw is much higher up until the bulb reaches 100% intensity.
You can see the Amperage draw for everything when you go to the SWITCH CHANNELS AND OUTLETS page on GCC.

Split the load and move one of the MH ballasts to the second PB5.1.