the contact seems to get tarnished very quickly.. either way.. the bulb is not up to the job at the moment

There were people who use these bulbs on AC,some are ranting and raving about it(usually the same people) but from the pics I saw I sure wasn`t impressed.
In no way are they as nice as the S.A bulbs no comparison at all. I know that when I sell a SA bulbs or any other bulb I sure dont have to sand the contacts.

That being said all bulbs go through a period of problems but hopefully they usually get ironed out.

Oh Yeah Im new here :biggrin:

Welcome to the board..!! :bday:
Where abouts are you from..??

Thanks Muck,

Im from Montreal,got to figure out how to add a signature.

ok got it.

I am Danny Zubot's buddy with the identical setup, and while sanding the contact on the bulb worked that night, I am still having the same problem. I have found that I can plug and unplug the ballast over and over, sometimes leaving it on for over an hour, and it still only fires when it FEELS like it. AARGH! I have made a discovery, however. If I plug in my ballast (M58), and lightly run my fingers over the bulb, it will fire. I am led to wonder, do these bulbs have an internal ignitor? It is the static electricity I create on the bulb to get it to fire. Or maybe I need a new capacitor for my ballast.

P.S. Danny, I'll get you the camera on Saturday. I just downloaded all the pics on it.

I dont think Its wouldnt be a capacitor problem because I had a ballast that did have Cap problemand it just didnt fire the bulb any more and I had tried everything like yourself.
If you have a extra bulb or a buddy with a MH bulb try it and see if your Balast fires it.

But I definetly dont think you should have to baby the bulb to get it to fire.

reply
 

We did try some switching around. In every scenario my setup fired right away and Rich's didn't. It is a balast problem that we will have to fix. :neutral:

Bummer, thats more $$ than a bulb.

reply
 

I'm thinking of taking the balast to a place called Qick Grow here in Calgary. They have these identical balasts, maybe we take a peek at one's insides to help find a problem.

Re: reply
 

I have one of those ballasts we got at Quickgrow. I think it is called Lightpro or something pro. It is a M57, and is made in China. I have had innumerable problems with it. I haave given up on those cheap ballasts, and run a couple of Ice Cap electronic ballasts, and have not looked back. :biggrin: