Help! Coralife PC won't start Resoved!

[hillegom]

I have a two bulb coralife 96W PC bulb fixture with moonlights.
I had this working on my QT tank and put it away 6 months ago.
Now I go to use it and the fans work but the bulbs won't fire.
Square pin configuration. If I put a meter on the disconnected socket, the most voltage I get is 54V AC. I don't know what its supposed to be.
Anything else I could check?
Thanks

[ScubaSteve]

Sounds like the ballast is toast to me. I believe you can swap a new ballast into those fixtures fairly easy. You'll have to double check but a Workhorse 7 or a Longhorse ballast might cut it so long as they fit into the fixture. On the metal halide fixture there isn't much room for afermarket ballasts, so you have to use the stock ballasts. I don't think this is the case for the PC fixtures and you can use a cheap aftermarket ballast.

[Lampshade]

Steve's right, the coralife ballasts are notorious for failing. I replaced 2 of my 2x65 with workhorse 5's and have been very happy since.

[hillegom]

I hear what you are saying about the ballasts.
I just have a problem with : I put the fixture away when it was working. Now, both ballasts would crap out on me at the same time?
There isn't any corrosion around the bulb pins. I took them off, wriggled them around, nothing!
I have them plugged in now and hoping they will warm up and work.
Haha, I should be so lucky.

[whatcaneyedo]

I've had to replace two Coralife ballasts as well. In one case the PC fixture was only a few months old and clean as a whistle.

[hillegom]

Thank you for all the help.
I checked the ballasts, as in how much voltage was going out of them. They were both similar.
My friend had some PC 96 W bulbs that I borrowed. They worked. So I bought new bulbs.
Funny thing is the unit worked when put away for storage and now nothing. So I cut apart the plastic on the old bulbs where the square pins are. Frightful!
The wires that go from the pins to the lamps, four of them of course, are less than 22 gauge. Really thin and corroded to heck. That is where the problem is. I wish when they fabricate bulbs they would put in thicker wire. Almost as if they are meant to fail. I certainly didn't get a years worth out of them.
Moral, don't store bulbs in garage where the humidity is greater than in the house.