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I have a misbehaving Lumatek 400w ballast {which represents 33% of my light source}...On Friday, 3 days ago, it was not lit. I could not get any replacement ballast locally, and my other two are Maxibright. I'm not sure how old it is, possibly 3 years[?] I should have made a note.... but then it switched itself on. Perhaps my Guardian Angel was looking over me, as at 1am, /I had the urge to go downstairs and check. Lamp was lit, and then, when my back was turned, I heard 'Phut!'..... 'PHUTTT' and noticed the lamp start to fade and smoke come from the Ballast. My goodness....never ever have had anything like this happen before...I unplugged it, and it was almost too hot to handle... I carried it out to back garden, and left it out under a bucket,. It stinks. Horribly. Hopefully replacement ballast will come later on today, but I am naturally concerned about why this happened? Fire is my biggest dread, and it hasn't appeared to have blown {touch wood} any fuses. Maybe the ''Phut'' I heard was the fuse in the plug blowing. a few years ago I had help from a wonderful site called ''Hennepdesk''... [2012]..but I am strictly smalltime. Many thanks in advance, Zilla.