MH ballast not firing lamp all the way.

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whitelightning77

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The ballast in the picture is a HX-HPF ballast. The capacitor is only used for power factor correction and does nothing with operating or starting the lamp.

If all wiring, lamp socket and lamp is good the ignitor has most likely failed. The ignitor on that ballast will have 3 wires.
Can that be replaced?
 

A. grandis

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The ballast in the picture is a HX-HPF ballast. The capacitor is only used for power factor correction and does nothing with operating or starting the lamp.

If all wiring, lamp socket and lamp is good the igniter has most likely failed. The ignitor on that ballast will have 3 wires.
Can be either one, or both, the capacitor and/or igniter. Some times the bulb starts, some times not, right? They look so clean and new in that picture too.
 

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The ballast in the picture is a HX-HPF ballast. The capacitor is only used for power factor correction and does nothing with operating or starting the lamp.

If all wiring, lamp socket and lamp is good the ignitor has most likely failed. The ignitor on that ballast will have 3 wires.
Oh yea...forgot about that and missed it in the wiring diagram. Duh!
 
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The ballast in the picture is a HX-HPF ballast. The capacitor is only used for power factor correction and does nothing with operating or starting the lamp.

If all wiring, lamp socket and lamp is good the ignitor has most likely failed. The ignitor on that ballast will have 3 wires.

You guys are the best. The lamp is back up and running. When you said that the capacitor doesn't affect the ignition I double checked everything. There was a splice in the closet through where the cables are routed, normally nothing is moved there. But last week I deep cleaned my sump and removed my skimmer. When I removed and replaced the skimmer cable I must have bumped the wires and one of the connectors got lose. Thanks again guys!

20201023_195919.jpg
 

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If you ballasts have fans (most of mine do), then sometimes the wires work loose over the years. I have a pile of MH ballasts and most are from the 2000s and some from as early as 2003. The output has hardly diminished although I have had to replace a few ignitors and a few on/off switches on them (you can wire around these if you don't have one on hand). All in all, very nice for a $90 piece of equipment that might take me 20 years of reefing. The cases might rust out before the ballasts stop working. :)

A cheap voltmeter and a you tube video can track down the issues with them. Nearly all issues are ignitors, loose/corroded wires or switches, in my experience.
 

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BTW - it has never been my case that a bad ignitor will faill to light the bulb 100%. They are erratic for a while before they go all the way out... so if you get a bulb that sometimes starts and sometimes will not, check the ignitor first.
 

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Add to the list of quirky things that can happen.
Some are not very obvious issues I have witnessed over the years....LOTS of screaming going on until certain things were discovered, back in the days. There is a limit as to how much power is being used on a circuit that will eventually affect a bulb not lighting properly.

-Too many things are plugged into a circuit. A coffee maker, hair dryer or other/many aquarium items, especially heaters.
-Some houses are also wired very strangely.
-Changing to a higher wattage bulb-pwr useage
-Some bulb manufacturers might have changed their bulbs to a pulse start (Ushio 175w 10k) and failed to tell anyone....for example.
 
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Might have spoken too soon. Its not firing up again. I was almost 100% that the wiring was the issue since when I fiddled with the splice it made a crackling sound and when I re wired the connection, the bulb fired right up. But now it's back to doing the same thing. Flickering as if it wants to fire up but won't. The ballast is warm and humming as if its working fine. I guess I might have to look Into ordering the ignitor after all.
 

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What lamp are you using with that ballast?

How long is the power cord from the ballast to the lamp?

What brand fixture, pendent, reflector are you using?

If you are seeing a thin blue arc from one electrode to the other electrode (opposite sides) inside the arc tube the ignitor is operating. The ignitor could be failing but this usually indicates a loose connection or the power cord from the ballast to the lamp is too long or the wrong type to handle the high voltage pulse generated by that ballast.
When Radium changed the chemistry inside the bulb years ago some people were having this problem. The new lamp needs a higher voltage to reliably fire now. The recommendation is to keep the ballast to lamp cord length as short as possible. Some sunlight supply lamp cords were not compatible and required shortening the cord or completely replacing the cord when using it with an magnetic HQI M80 ballast.
 

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Also if you are using a single ended lamp check the socket is making good contact with the lamp base. With the ballast to lamp cord disconnected then you can pry up the center tab slightly with a flathead screwdriver.
 
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What lamp are you using with that ballast?

How long is the power cord from the ballast to the lamp?

What brand fixture, pendent, reflector are you using?

If you are seeing a thin blue arc from one electrode to the other electrode (opposite sides) inside the arc tube the ignitor is operating. The ignitor could be failing but this usually indicates a loose connection or the power cord from the ballast to the lamp is too long or the wrong type to handle the high voltage pulse generated by that ballast.
When Radium changed the chemistry inside the bulb years ago some people were having this problem. The new lamp needs a higher voltage to reliably fire now. The recommendation is to keep the ballast to lamp cord length as short as possible. Some sunlight supply lamp cords were not compatible and required shortening the cord or completely replacing the cord when using it with an magnetic HQI M80 ballast.

Its a radium 250 on an lumenark elite reflector. The ballast is the Hamilton 250 watt black box. Im not exactly sure how long the wires are but they are probably 10-15ft as they are running through a closet to the fish room. I have another set up running the exact same way and its firing up fine. Also, this light has been running this way for over a year (since I installed the ballast).

I did do as dirk said, and ran the light with an extension cord to a different outlet. It was doing the same thing, light blue flickering light, but after about 5 minutes of it being plugged in it actually finally fired up. These lights are both run through my apex off an eb8.
 
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Also if you are using a single ended lamp check the socket is making good contact with the lamp base. With the ballast to lamp cord disconnected then you can pry up the center tab slightly with a flathead screwdriver.
Did that, and it is.
 

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Is the other setup using the same ballast and lamp?
Do you mean the lumen max elite reflector? This reflector is a sunlight supply reflector and can cause the exact problem you are describing with that ballast and lamp combination.

Sometimes this problem doesn’t show up with a brand new lamp. As the lamp ages the required starting voltage increases.
 
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Is the other setup using the same ballast and lamp?
Do you mean the lumen max elite reflector? This reflector is a sunlight supply reflector and can cause the exact problem you are describing with that ballast and lamp combination.

Sometimes this problem doesn’t show up with a brand new lamp. As the lamp ages the required starting voltage increases.

Yes, what i meant was the lumen max elite reflectors. And no, the other set up is running a different ballast, an ARO ballast.

How does the reflector cause the issue? Isn't it just a simple ceramic base with wires?
 
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PaulErik

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The ARO electronic ballast uses a different method to fire the lamp. The ignition pulse height and width is different from an magnetic HQI ballast.
The reflector isn’t the problem but the power cord from the ballast to the lamp socket. The Sunlight supply cord has the wires tightly wrapped and twisted together. This increases the capacitance which will lower the ignition pulse from the magnetic HQI ballast. I’ve personally had to deal with this issue more than once.

Some tips that can help is having the power cord (from ballast to lamp) run straight and not coiled up any where. Lamp service cord should not be housed in metallic conduit. Make sure all connections are solid and plugs are in good condition. Even the smallest nick or break in the wire can cause leakage.

In my experience what has helped the most is shortening the cord length to a max of 8 feet or replacing the cord completely. Shorter the lamp cord is the higher the ignition voltage will be at the lamp socket.

The newer Radium lamps can be finicky. The ignitor recommended by Radium is a superimposed ignitor and should be installed within 1.5 meters from the lamp. Going any longer requires extra attention to deals like wire type, application and proper grounding.
 
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whitelightning77

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Can the fact that its an hqi ballast be the issue? But I mean isn't that what alot of the radium guys were using for these bulbs?
 

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