Metal Halide Problems...again!

GreenSpottedPuffer · #1 12-30-2008, 08:22 PM

I don't know why I buy used stuff

My ballast seems to be dying again. For a few days, the bulbs would flicker once in a while and then yesterday one of them started flickering non stop and then just stopped working. I left it off the rest of the day. Today is started up again and was fine for an hour before it started flickering out of control again and the ballast started buzzing kind of loud. So I turned them off again.

I know thats not a lot of info but any ideas?

Its the PFO dual 400 watt ballast. TAR style. I know they suck. I think I should just buy a new light set up. I was happy with my electronic 250 watt ballasts but they died on me too! Jeez... I have had bad light luck.

Aquattro · #2 12-30-2008, 08:29 PM

I had problems years ago, and it turned out to be the power to my house. Hydro moved me to a different transformer and it was good after that...

Electric eel · #3 12-30-2008, 08:37 PM

Is the bulb sitting level? They do not like to be on a tilt. Hope that makes sense.

GreenSpottedPuffer · #4 12-30-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electric eel

Is the bulb sitting level? They do not like to be on a tilt. Hope that makes sense.

I think there is a slight tilt. I will look into that. Would it cause the ballast to buzz though?

GreenSpottedPuffer · #5 12-30-2008, 09:54 PM

Can old bulbs cause problems like this?

fdiddy · #6 12-30-2008, 10:08 PM

I'm taggin along. I would like to know some of these answers before buying lights :P

GreenSpottedPuffer · #7 12-30-2008, 10:16 PM

So I changed the bulb to a new one. Its just a cheapo EBay bulb but it seems to have fixed the problem for now. And man its bright!

I think I should go buy new bulbs.

Would it make sense for the ballast to buzz and be unhappy if the bulb is burning out? These bulbs are like year and half or older.

banditpowdercoat · #8 12-30-2008, 11:11 PM

When the bulbs get old, they can go out, and flicker etc. This flckering is the ballast trying to restart the bulbs. That constant restarting is hard on ballasts. Just like leaving a burnt out bulb in a Fluorescent fixture, Its hard on it and usually leads to burnt out ballasts as its working overtime to try and light the dead bulb

tang daddy · #9 12-30-2008, 11:13 PM

I was going to say the first thing would be to change the bulb, I run mh and hps fixtures in the parking lots of the buildings I take care of and 8-10 times its the bulb, however the humming sound from the ballast means that it's getting old and using more energy to fire the bulb keep your fingers crossed!!

GreenSpottedPuffer · #10 12-30-2008, 11:52 PM

Most of the humming is gone now that I changed the bulb. Its a dual ballast box and if I just leave the new bulb on and turn off the old one, the humming goes away almost completely. So...the ballast is obviously working very hard to keep the old bulb burning.

Thanks for the help guys!