can ballest be rebuilt or cheaper to buy one

[tjk971]

I bought a metal halide light. Worked great for a week now the ballest is acting wierd. Had to turn it upside down to make it work. I was planing ahead on getting another or rebuilding. This one. Thanks Tom K

 

[mcoomer]

If you truly "fixed it" by turning it upside down, two thoughts come to mind. First, I wouldn't use it in its present state. It sounds like you have an intermittent short or open in the circuit causing the problems that you're seeing. That's a fire waiting to happen. You don't need that kind of drama. Second, since it does seem to be a wiring problem of some sort there's no harm in unplugging it and disassembling it to see if you can locate an obvious problem in the wiring or maybe a bad switch. If it's a problem of a poor solder joint or intermittent connection you should be able to repair it. But refer to my first comment and take that thing out of service immediately.

Mike

 

[tjk971]

I think it is a faulty switch. I will end uptaking it out of comission. But I just don't want to lose any of my tiny just starting out corals.

 

[mcoomer]

If the switch is bad it can be repaired, and rather easily at that. My PFO ballast had a problem several years ago where one lamp would flicker and go out on occasion. I tried several bulbs in there and the problem persisted. I finally broke out the multimeter and found that the switch was faulty due to high resistance. It hadn't opened completely but apparently had carbon buildup on the contacts from years of arcing when turning off or on or had some sort of internal fault. Whatever the case, I got a new switch at Home Depot (pick your favorite store), soldered it in, and haven't had any trouble in years.

As for your corals, I wouldn't be too worried. Take the ballast out of service and either get it repaired or replaced within a few days to a week and they won't notice a thing. To them it will be like having storm clouds block the sun. You certainly don't want to go for an extended period without lights but short periods of time won't hurt and some folks will even argue that it can be beneficial.

Mike

 

[fulkerl]

You could bypass the switch real easy and test your therory, just cut the leads to the switch and wire nut them together. if all works good then just unplug the ballast to turn off till you replace the switch.

 

[tjk971]

good Idea on the bypass I will give it a try. That will save me some time in replacing a part that might not be bad.