How can you know if your ballast or bulb is bad, if you do not have another bulb to try out. I picked up a M.H. light with a ballast that is rated for 250 and they had a 175 bulb in there. When you turn it on the light comes on, after a few seconds goes out, and ballast stops humming. Then it sort of flickers. Anyway, do you think they blew the ballast by running that wattage of bulb? Or would it not even light up the bulb at first.
Bad bulb or Ballast???
- Thread starter copepod
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nasher8860
BANE
If you have access to another ballast that will fire that type of bulb I would try that first. If you don't have access to another ballast, try finding a local lighting company that might check the bulb for you. Just some suggestions.....
clayswim
Well-known member
I always figure if the bulb is old you have to replace it anyway, so start there and see if it will fire. If it doesn't, move on to the ballast.
Clayton
Clayton
Krish
RF STAFF
I good way to test it is to plug it in the wall and then put the other end in your mouth and check for a tingle (LOL..JK) Is the setup brand new? Because it would be really weird to get a new setup like yours and have the wrong bulb in there. Makes you think it was returned and they put it back on the shelf (if that was the case). If it was a used one, maybe you can check for a few things like if there is any corrosion on any of the cantacts and maybe even plug it in, turn it on, and when it goes out, try fiddling with the cord at the ballast and plug to see if there is a bad connection that simple soldering might fix. If none of that works, then I'd get a new bulb like Clay says which is cheaper and try it. However, I'm not to sure how the MH's work in comparison to other lights (eg PC's), but I don't think that if the bulb's wattage is a little lower then whats rated for it, will cause the ballast to malfunction. So it might just be the ballast if that's the case (I could be wrong though).
Krish
RF STAFF
I need to proof read and spell check in the mornings (lol)
Jiddy
Well-known member
clayswim said:
Thats exactly what i did and it was a bad ballast. It was a IC thank gosh, they took care of me!
And Krish, its okay to misspedl ivethin in the monrin, i due it all the time!
WaterDogs
Well-known member
krish75 said:
:lol: :lol: :idea:It is a used setup. I really don't want to buy a bulb since I am not even using this setup yet and not sure if I will in the near future. I have looked around inside, I'll try to giggle more wires, smells like something is burned in there. Just need to find someone nearby that has a similar setup then they can try my bulb.
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