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e46er
04-05-2015, 09:38 PM
Hi
so i have a 2x 250W coralife MH light over my tank and I Bought it used probably 3-4 years ago so its def. not new. bulbs are just over a month old.
today i came home and only my left light was on.
controller outlet has power. i swap the quick connects and the right bulb fires up left bulb stay off.

obviously the ballast is the problem. next I shut off the working ballast and turn on the not working ballast and it fires up the fans in the fixture. based on my limited knowledge of how MH work is 120V current comes in to a step up transformer and ups the voltage to a rediculous amount and voila the bulbs fire up.

So are these transformers (which Im assuming is the problem) easy to find and replace or is it a goofy aquarium only voltage and will be impossible to find and Im better off trying to find a used ballast?
thanks for any thoughts /solutions in advance!!

untamed
04-05-2015, 10:06 PM
My limited experience with these is that you probably can't take that thing apart in any case. New ballast is probably required.

hondas3000
04-05-2015, 10:08 PM
I have both ballast and one is working one is not which I can give you if u can make a drive up to burnaby. As I don't want to bother fixing it.

e46er
04-05-2015, 10:27 PM
Honda that would be awesome PM sent

pterfloth
04-06-2015, 05:36 PM
The guts of MH ballasts are pretty standard items. If you open up the ballast box and identify the ballast, Nedco probably has a replacement. You may even want to take the opened ballast box with you. I've replaced the internals of several ballasts over the years. Take pictures of the wiring before attempting to swap them out and match connections wire by wire.