what to do???

[sea gnome]

I have a 250w pfo ballast that I bought in Jan. from JL and when I was in Winnipeg last week I went to Jayson and picked up a 20k Radium bulb which willl not fire on my balllast. Jayson states that many people use them on reg. pfo ballast. JL says they don't work on them. I am wanting to know if people are doing anything to they ballasts to make them work or am I just having more of my dumb luck?? Since it doesn't run I am left with the dilenma of buying either a blue wave (dual) or two elctronic balllasts or getting rid of 20K bulb. Money is a concern but at the same time I want to be happpy with the outcome. If I do go with the new ballast(s) would anyone be interested in pfo ballast??? Or on the other hand, would anyone be interested in brand new 20K radium bulb??? Thoughts and suggestions gladly received. Rachel

[wayner]

Well Rachel, I'd return the bulb to Jayson, it hasn't been used so I don't see a problem.

If I were gonna purchase a a Radium Bulb, it would be 400w, and I'd run it off a PFO HQI Ballast or a Bueline haven't heard that many good things about the Radium bulb in 250w (Too Blue)

FYI - Icecap is coming out with a 400W ballast in the near future so will be interesting to see how it compares to PFO HQI & Blueline running the Radium.

[Aquattro]

Rachel, I have heard of many people using that ballast, it "should" work. Try putting the bulb in and turning on the ballast and leaving it on for a while. The bulb might fire after some time. If not, I may be interested in the bulb, and I think Steve was looking at PFO ballasts. Not sure of the wattage, so check with him. Also, Adam mentioned something about ordering some blue lines for a decent price.

[Aquattro]

Originally posted by Reef_Raf:
If not, I may be interested in the bulb .<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry, Rachel, my mind wasn't working properly. Wrong wattage for me.

[sea gnome]

I phoned Jayson to see if I could return bulb but he says there will be a 20% restocking fee. I did try leaving the ballast on for awhile with no luck. At this time I think I will try to sell the bulb as I am happy with the color of the 6500K with the new white actincic flourescent(sp?) bulb I picked up from Jayson. Any one interested in a brand new radium????

[reefburnaby]

Hi Sea Gnome,

Which PFO ballast did you get ? There are several types that are available at J&Ls.

- Victor.

[Troy F]

A restocking fee for returning a bulb that won't fire? Hmmm.

[robert]

OK. Here is my shot. Iwasaki 250W bulb requires MV (mercury vapor) ballast by manufacturer. When you get proper ballast for that bulb... Hmmmm... what is proper one?? I use advance MH ballast to fire IWASAKI with no problems at all. Anyway MV ballast will only work with MV bulb. So if you have PFO MV version ballast I don't think you will be able to fire your lamp with existing ballast and there is nothing wrong with the bulb. You could replace PFO one in ecnlosure you got from JL with MH advance ballast. PM, if you are interested we could try your bulb in my MH ballast. BTW how much would you want for the bulb if I am interested in purchase?

[ 04 October 2002, 16:33: Message edited by: pirate ]

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

IMHO, Radiums don't work well with regular MH ballasts -- you will get starting problems. The starting voltage is a bit low...hence a no-start condition can happen. They are suppose to work with HQI, HPS or Pulse-Start MH ballasts. Pulse Start are different from the Regular MH ballasts.

So, depending on which ballast you have...Radium may or may not work in your system.

- Victor.

[sea gnome]

I am not sure which ballast I have since I can not find the bill, but I went on jl website and suspect I got the one for iwsaki only???? The price was what I think I paid for it. Jayson did say he test fires all the bulbs before sending them and it doesn't appear broken in any way. If someone does want it, I paid 134.99 plus tax so $140 and I'll pay the postage. I am not sure what you meant by the advance ballast, could it be put into the pfo casing???? Rachel

[robert]

Advance Transformers is ballast manufacturer. After reading reefburnaby post I am not sure if they have one that you need.

[Troy F]

Rachel, I doubt you got the Iwasaki specific ballast unless you ordered it intentionally or they put the wrong one in. The ballast is a little more expensive and as you know, nothing is free these days.

[sea gnome]

After checking jl web site they have 3 pfo ballasts, one for iwsaki only, one for all others and an hqi one. I guess it doesn't matter which one I got except it doesn't fire the bulb. :( My husband and were shaking our heads when it happened because we seem to have the worst luck with thinngs. If there is any chance they won't work, then they don't. It's becoming par for the course. See buy/sell if you are interested in bulb.

[EmilyB]

Originally posted by sea gnome:

My husband and were shaking our heads when it happened because we seem to have the worst luck with things. If there is any chance they won't work, then they don't. It's becoming par for the course. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Don't worry, you're not alone there..... ;)

[reefburnaby]

Sea Gnome,

Yupe...I have been in that boat too. I still get on it once in a while....

If you have the Iwaski (MV) ballast, it is the cheaper one and they probably won't start the Radium bulb. BTW, if you have a MV ballast...you are probably locked in to the Iwasaki bulbs....until another better MV lamps rolls along. There should be a tag or label on the PFO that describes what ballast is inside.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[robert]

Gnome, even if you have Standard PFO ballast you will not be able to power up your radium 250W (btw, 175W and 400W works with standard). You need HQI ballast for these lamps.
Sorry about this.

[sea gnome]

:cry: