Coralife MH Ballast Repair

[Green Phantom]

I have a 175W MH Ballast from Coralife that seems to have stopped working. It turns on the bulb but stays very dim. Sometime it doesn't turn on. I was just wondering if there's a place I can take to have it repaired. I bought it used so warranty is expired. Thanks in advance.

[Bryan]

Electronic or coil and core?l

[MikeP]

If it's a magnetic ballast it's probably the capacitor. Does it still buzz when you turn it on? If you can find the parts it should be easy to fix, I've be having a hard time getting a capacitor for one of my ballast though. Maybe you'll have better luck in BC.

[Drock169]

i'd be weary of a faulty ballast they can start fires. You could try contacting Coralife, they are usually pretty good at replacing stuff.

[JakartaOrBust]

I totally agree to be weary of the fire possibility. I had a bad connection in one of my ballasts and had I not been there to notice the smell of the plastics on the coupler melting. That could have been an ender.

Coralife are good about it, they will even give you order numbers on things like ballasts so that you can have your local pet store order it in for you or I am sure you can do it direct.

Mine was bought second hand and had no valid warranty so a friend and myself chose to dismantle mine and see if we could find it. Turns out that all that was wrong was at some point some one disconnected the couplers by bending like a chocolate bar rather than to pull it straight apart. and the ground socket inside where the connection ring was, did not have a full connection to where it wrapped around the prong. All the lost current ended up there overheating and causing it to melt a little bit. after we cleaned it out and bent the ring back into shape I had no problems, also seems as the resistance caused by it really was impeding more than I thought it was as the HQI now glows much brighter.

Might be something to check out on yours.

[Chin_Lee]

If you are concerned about faulty wiring, I would just switch out the entire magnetic ballast parts and replace it with an electronic one. Hellolights right now have 10% off July 4th special with coupon code of "july42008" The sale ends today BTW and NO I'M NOT AFFLIATED WITH THAT COMPANY :lol:

The electronic ballast is at $90 bucks and at 10% off, is about $81.
http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=457
and wiring for these guys are easy as pie.

Compare that to the magnetic Coralvue ballast at $109 and you still have to get the ignitor if thats the part that is busted or causing problems. http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1657

Personally i'm quite surprised coralife are still using magnetic ballasts when all the electronic ballast could fit into the fixture without external ballasts. They could also wire up the electronic ballasts external if it would increase the heat within the fixture too much.

[Black Phantom]

J & L carries electronic ones as well. You could order one or take a trip into Van and pick it up yourself

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/store_pages/product-info.php?product_ID=pfo-be175b

[Green Phantom]

Thanks for the all replies...there's some very useful information. I just took a look today...Mikep is correct...it is the capacitor...there's a large crack along the side. Hopefully, I'll have better luck than him in finding the replacement. Thanks again everyone.

[ridder]

If you need a capacitor, try Albrite Lighting in Poco 604-945-9060 or
Westburn Electric in Burnaby 604-205-2800 or Westco also in Burnaby
604-299-5566.

[Green Phantom]

Thanks for the numbers, ridder.

[Mega]

lol... same here, my HQI 150W ballast went out too. One of the pin doesn't have any voltage. I wonder if I can actually fix the HQI one... :question: