a question about metal halide bulbs

Brighteyes_13 · #1 12-31-2007, 04:54 AM

so christmas was good to me, got a used pair of ballasts and bulbs for my fishtank.

everything wired up easily, and the switch was thrown. both bulbs began to warm up and i was feelin pretty proud of myself.

after a few mins one of the bulbs began to flicker, almost strobelike, then after a few mins of the flicker it went out only to warm up again in a few more mins and restart the process. i turned off the setup, let cool and switched bulbs, and the same bulb (other socket) again flickered.
i was told the bulbs were only used about half a year, could it just be from not being used for over a year? or is the bulb dead?

anyone else have this happen before? any comments would be really apreciated

Myka · #2 12-31-2007, 05:01 AM

How long did you let it flicker for before you turned it off? I've seen some that like to flicker for a few minutes while they warm up. Personally, I wouldn't keep one on my tank that flickered. I'd just replace it.

mark · #3 12-31-2007, 05:10 AM

Sounds like you bought ballasts from the same guy another Canreefer did. This guy paid a fair buck for supposedly 3 month old (than turned to 6 month old) ballasts that worked 4 hours before crapping out.

Myka · #4 12-31-2007, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark

Sounds like you bought ballasts from the same guy another Canreefer did. This guy paid a fair buck for supposedly 3 month old (than turned to 6 month old) ballasts that worked 4 hours before crapping out.

He said the bulb flickered from both ballasts. From what I understood anyway... lol!

mark · #5 12-31-2007, 05:20 AM

Sounds like there was some flickering on these before dying completely. Everything is potted so assume no connectors loosened, but then the potting makes it near impossible to repair.

Brighteyes, all I can suggest is the same I said to the other guy, check to see if anything shook itself apart in shipping. If everything looks good, troubleshoot and hopefully a cheap replacement part gets you going again.

scumchug · #6 12-31-2007, 05:24 AM

Make sure you unplug, and let them sit for a while. If they are not electroic ballasts, there will be a capacitor in them, that cap will hold a massive charge for a while after they are unplugged.