AgHhH!! Ballast question . . . YaY!!

[megatron_55]

Hey you guys need help on this one . . .

I just bought the reefstar lighting system from hamilton (1x250watt DE HQI 10,000k)

But anyhow . . . when I switch the ballast on . . . should it fire the light on right away?? Because when I turn it on . . the ballast kinda just makes a buzzing or a humming sound . . .

I turned it on and off maybe around 5 times after turning it on for about 1 min each interval but on my 5th - 6th try the ballast "turned on" and the light turned on as well . . .

IS THIS NORMAL?? Or should it be like Power compacts?? (as soon as u turn it on it turns on)

PLS. Help me . . . need to know if I need to return the product or nit . . . Thanks U guys!

[Zerandise]

MH take upto 5 or more minutes to turn on. turning them off and on quick will only blow them out. Just turn it on and saee how long it takes to fire.

[StirCrazy]

MH take upto 5 or more minutes to turn on.

if it takes more than a few seconds to start arching there is a problem, with either a componant of the ballast system or the match of the ballast to the bulb. this is a common problem when using "normal" probe start ballast with the bulbs we use in the hobby, but for some reason people have come to acept this routen of failed starts as a normal thing.

seeing as you are using a HQI with a ingightor you should not be getting anything like this and I would call the company and inquire about the problem. could be a bad ignightor, capacitor, ect..

Steve

[Ryan]

Ya I found with my Halide that it turned on the light was just very very dim Then over the course of 5 min it turned on full way. I would call or email Hamilton and ask.

[megatron_55]

Thanks for the reply u guys ... BUT THE THING IS . . . when my timer turns on the ballasts makes a humming sound (so I know that its on) and the bulb DOESN't EVEN light up . . . not even a little bit . . . then tonight I tried it again and maybe between 20-30 seconds into it . . . THEN the light turns on (very dim then bright afterwards . . . after it heated up which is normal)

NOW: DOES THE BALLAST NEED TO HEAT UP TOO OR???? . . . Anyone else with a reefstar?? OR any halide lighting?? When u turn it on is it suppose to light up right away (even if its very dim) or do you guys wait 20-30 seconds before it actually turns on ???

Because I know that the Aqualight pro's lights up right away . . . (very dim then bright after it heats up) But I don't have to wait 20-30 seconds after the ballast turns on . . . HELP!!!

[mr_alberta]

The bulb should turn on right away. It starts off dim then gets brighter as the bulb warms up. The ballast also does buzz a little if it is a HQI ballast. Since your bulb does not fire up right away, I would give Hamilton a call as Steve suggested.

[Tangman]

Sorry to here about your problems, I tried to warn people about Hamilton Teck ... Here and on RC. If you try to call them all you will get is the run around. They already have your money and don't care about customer service and have no quality control with regards to there products. For these reasons J&L wont sell there products!
As for the problems , the bulb has to " burn in " along time before it fires up right away ,like about a weeks worth of 8 to 10 hours a day. Mine did the same thing as your are doing , and after repairing some patched together wiring, and some other problems.... and along burn in time , they fire up right away. in the mean time good luck!
if you want you could PM me with your phone number and I will call you with the whole story...

[StirCrazy]

As for the problems , the bulb has to " burn in " along time before it fires up right away ,like about a weeks worth of 8 to 10 hours a day. Mine did the same thing as your are doing , and after repairing some patched together wiring, and some other problems.... and along burn in time , they fire up right away. in the mean time good luck!
if you want you could PM me with your phone number and I will call you with the whole story...

the burn in time has nothing to do with how fast the bulb will fire up, but rather is the initial shift in the bulb output and color. (for what it is worth testing 10 new bulbs now has convinced me that the burn in time is barly noticable and nothing to be concerned with.

your wiring repairs and "other problems" is what was giving you your greef. but this is good that some one has experiance with the repairs on hamilton product to help find the problem if there customer service is lacking. was yours the HQI also? and what did you have to fix in it? I know there are a lot of people that are wiring in the capacitor on the HQI wrong as the are assuming it works the same way as a standard ballast. I know it had me all confused when I built my HQI lighting.

Steve

[Funky_Fish14]

Yeah, I dont know anything about how the ballasts in these work but I do know that as stated before, the bulb should fire(start to arc) right away.

One question, To Tangman, you said J&L wont sell hamilton products, yet there are still hamiltion products all over their website? Maybe they just havent been removed?

Chris

[Willow]

well j&l does infact sell many hamilton tech units.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/tlist/halide/hoods.php?category_ID=72

[BCOrchidGuy]

Mine was very slow to start up at first but after I fired it five or so times it comes on pretty quickly now. I haven't changed anything, I just turned it on for an hour or so at a time and now it fires up nice and quick.

Steve, is there any chance to Hamilton using a different or unique method of firing? Does the capacitor need to charge up time and time again before the light fires?

Doug

[megatron_55]

Hey you guys . . . Got the lighting setup up and running . . . . Dang these reefstars are bright!. . . Im pretty pleased with the light . . . . Just need to find a way to supplement it with actinics . . . Any Idea?? Anyhow . . . just an update:


Everything is great . . . picked up some acro's at OA!!

Dang u guys . . . OA I can easily say is the BeSt!!. . . Thanks James and Wendell for helping me out with my light upgrade :biggrin: and always finding a way to answer ALL my qustions and satisfying me and and a bunch of few reefers that I know!

Thanks all!! .. . i'L post pic when I get the time . . . !!

cheers-

[Van down by the river]

if it takes more than a few seconds to start arching there is a problem, with either a componant of the ballast system or the match of the ballast to the bulb. this is a common problem when using "normal" probe start ballast with the bulbs we use in the hobby, but for some reason people have come to acept this routen of failed starts as a normal thing.
seeing as you are using a HQI with a ingightor you should not be getting anything like this and I would call the company and inquire about the problem. could be a bad ignightor, capacitor, ect..


Wow Shoot first ask questions later!?

megatron_55 was simply turning on and off his halides before they had a chance to fire up.

A MH arc tube contains various elements sush as mercury,sodium, thallium,indium,etc. These elements vaporize and coat the arc tube. When a bulb is new, they have yet to fully vaporize and that is why the initial few ignitions have a time delay. With additional firing and burn time, the bulb will ignite sooner. Also switching on and off the ballast in short intervals can delay ignition.
This is not something to call the manufacturer about.

As to warm up time of the bulb, this too is standard. I watch over a dozen various MH setups ignite and warm up everyday.

A characteristic of HID lamps is that the HID lamps take several minutes to warm up (ranging from 3-5 min). After any interruption of power (1/20th of a second or more), a lamp that is hot will not start immediately, and must cool sufficiently before restarting. This time delay is called the restriking time and may take anywhere from 10-20 min for MH lamps.-Sanjay Joshi

You are welcome to call Hamilton, I have found them to be fair and helpful with after sales service. When you sell thousands of items, you are bound to have some factory defects. This doesn't mean your product is no good. It is a result of scale. I have had good and bad from all equipment manufacturers over the years.

[StirCrazy]

megatron_55 was simply turning on and off his halides before they had a chance to fire up.[/quote]

so how fast was he turning them off, because a couple seconds is all the bulb needs to fire weather it is new or not. the rest of the time is it warming up, but it does glow right away as I am sure you know.





A MH arc tube contains various elements sush as mercury,sodium, thallium,indium,etc. These elements vaporize and coat the arc tube. When a bulb is new, they have yet to fully vaporize and that is why the initial few ignitions have a time delay. [/quote]


Van, sorry to disagree but there is no time delay whats so ever, the initia arc is imeadiate (talking a couple seconds maybe of delay, but not 5 min)
it is the warm up that is the 3 to 5 min period




With additional firing and burn time, the bulb will ignite sooner. Also switching on and off the ballast in short intervals can delay ignition.
This is not something to call the manufacturer about.

the ingnition shouldn't be any different in time but yes the warm up time will be.



A characteristic of HID lamps is that the HID lamps take several minutes to warm up (ranging from 3-5 min). After any interruption of power (1/20th of a second or more), a lamp that is hot will not start immediately, and must cool sufficiently before restarting. This time delay is called the restriking time and may take anywhere from 10-20 min for MH lamps.-Sanjay Joshi

this is refuring to the warm up not the initial start, the bulb will do an initial start with in a couple seconds in which the inner tube starts to glow, this over the next coupld min will get brighter and brighter (about 3 to 5 min)

So if you turn the power off befor it is bright (you led us to assume that it wasn't even arching) of course it won't light laiter as the ballast needs a cool down period befor it will relight, about 10 to 15 min.