Giesemann Infiniti MH help

[WhyMe?]

Going back OLD school. I have a Giesemann Infiniti 48" setup been in storage and prior to putting in storage, MH and T5 worked. This is 48" so has TWO 250W DE MH and Four T5 bulbs. Two ballasts (each one lights one set of T5 and 1 MH). I can get all T5s to work, but cannot get either MH to fire up. ANYONE still have an Infiniti that can help out? I do not recall if I should "hear" ignitors or a buzzing when starting up. I do not hear anything. I have BRAND new MH bulbs. I do NOT see TWO ballasts going bad. ANY ideas? Know fixture is retired from Giesemann but I did send out a request for help. Even schematics would be great and I can start reading voltages.

 

[sfmacguy]

What ballast's are you running? I know with my M80's I get an audible click on the ballasts themselves when powering up.

 

[Reefering1]

Post pics. Do you have a decent multimeter and feel comfortable using it?

 

[oreo54]

Going back OLD school. I have a Giesemann Infiniti 48" setup been in storage and prior to putting in storage, MH and T5 worked. This is 48" so has TWO 250W DE MH and Four T5 bulbs. Two ballasts (each one lights one set of T5 and 1 MH). I can get all T5s to work, but cannot get either MH to fire up. ANYONE still have an Infiniti that can help out? I do not recall if I should "hear" ignitors or a buzzing when starting up. I do not hear anything. I have BRAND new MH bulbs. I do NOT see TWO ballasts going bad. ANY ideas? Know fixture is retired from Giesemann but I did send out a request for help. Even schematics would be great and I can start reading voltages.

https://forums.reefcentral.com/threads/giesemann-infinity-questions.1310533/https://forums.reefcentral.com/threads/giesemann-lighting-club.1058158/

 

[oreo54]

I deleted the part about magnetic and electronic. Not sure if it's accurate.

Low-loss ballasts and digital ignitors are integrated for optimal control of the metal halide burners. The digital ignition technology has the advantage of operating particularly quietly, without any ignition noise, and of switching off defective lamps in good time thanks to the built-in electronics - this prevents possible damage to the luminaire.

Igniters are history I believe.

 

[Reefering1]

I deleted the part about magnetic and electronic. Not sure if it's accurate.

Regardless, ansi code of ballast will be useful. I'm hoping for pics showing ballast/ cap/ignitor/ wiring..

 

[WhyMe?]

Digital ballast that came with Giesemann Infiniti (ie. it's electronic, not magnetic).
Feel decent using multimeter and have a good one, may need slight refresher.

 

[WhyMe?]

no other decals on ballast. I can Load, Neutral, Ground out of ballast. the two other wires should be for MH since the internals of the Infnity have the ballast for T5s installed.

 

[WhyMe?]

https://forums.reefcentral.com/threads/giesemann-infinity-questions.1310533/Going through that forum and looks like I have same ballast as "Kinetic" did at beginning of post.

 

[Reefering1]

Digital ballast that came with Giesemann Infiniti (ie. it's electronic, not magnetic).
Feel decent using multimeter and have a good one, may need slight refresher.

Well not much to check on e ballast.. like you said, verify line voltage across white and black wires.. the other 2 that goes to the actual socket should be around 100v but i would not try to check that on a unlit bulb, the ignitor can bite/ kill the meter. If there's power going in and you have good connections at the bulb- you either have bad bulb or ballast. Hopefully you don't have power at the ballasts(meaning it's the cord or switch). What bulbs do you have?

 

[WhyMe?]

Line voltage across black and white is 120VAC output of ballast. Have TWO ballasts and both reading same.
I have 8 used Hexarc Blue MH bulbs that I bought used with unit. I purchased TWO brand new "cheap " bulbs and NONE are working. Do not see eight bulbs as being bad.

 

[Reefering1]

It's most likely bad ballasts. I don't feel comfortable recommending you check voltage at sockets. Ignition voltage is nothing to play with. If connections are good, assume ballasts are bad. Those bulbs are the pheonix 14k's!! Designed for m80 ballasts. Look for s50 or m132/m154 as closest equivalent

 

[WhyMe?]

could BOTH ballasts be bad only on the MH side? I will check out other bulbs.
got these from amazon just to test.

Marine Color Brand 250w 14,000k Hqi Double Ended Fc2 Socket Metal Halide Bulbs​

 

[kinetic]

It's been so long I totally forgot what the solution was for me. I think it was just missing some chords, but I believe you already have everything.