Any tricks to get a stubborn halide to fire?

[Delphinus]

I've got a new unused 250W Iwasaki (the R version) that is not firing.

Is there any way to coax it to fire? Should I just turn it on and leave it for a little while and hope that it decides to fire on its own? If I do that, is there any risk in burning out my ballast?

Is there any way to confirm if a bulb is faulty? I guess find a friend who has a 250W ballast and see if it fires on that ballast?

Any advice would be appreciated... thanks

PS. I guess I have a second question ... how often can ballasts fail? I have a ballast that isn't firing any bulbs at all (neither the "bad" bulb nor my one "good" bulb). It was working fine last time I tried this, maybe a month ago ... it has just been sitting waiting to be used, and now that I'm ready for it, it seems to have stopped working now. Argh! :mad: If it's not one thing it's another.

[ 21 April 2002, 22:24: Message edited by: delphinus ]