Help, Dual MH burnouts?

[jrgilles]

Hey guys, I just got home and both of my MH bulbs are burned out. The filaments no longer span across the bulbs....

I just bought these bulbs about a month ago (off ebay). What could cause this? They are behind 2 powerstip surge protectors. And each is on a separate ballast.

Any ideas? I guess I need to pick up some more bulbs locally, but is this going to repeat if I put more expensive bulbs in? Seems this happened on 2 isolated circuits, I also saw a kitchen bulb burned out when I got hom (when my GF switched on the kitchen light it went out, which was after the MH's were apparently blown during the day.

It kind of looks to me like a surge hit them or something, but the 2 powerstrip surge protectors are still on. Maybe I need to get a higher quality surge protector? Ground fault or something?

Please let me know. Thanks!

Anyone know the cost of bulbs at barrier reef? Was going to head there for the sale this weekend anyway....

rob

 

[lvsuckerfish]

radiums are 69.99 250 and 400 se as to the issue at hand I would not know where to begin.

 

[jrgilles]

Yea, seems weird. Must be something with the house wiring since it occured on 2 bulbs which are each on their own ballast. I would have thought the surge protector should have saved me. I guess I need to invest in a superior surge protector or something.

If there are any electrician-types around, please advise. I would hate to burn out 2 $70 replacement bulbs also.

Haven't seen anything like this before, but my tank has only been up 4 months.... >.<

 

[blk822822]

Do you have a odyssea lighting system, they are known to have ballast issuses.

 

[jrgilles]

I bought the light used, and was told it was a coralife. I examined the ballasts, but couldn't find any name on them. Let me search for pictures of the odyssea ballasts and see if they are the same.

 

[jrgilles]

seems weird though that BOTH of the ballasts would have blown out the bulbs on the same day though... hunting for a pic still

 

[jrgilles]

It looks something like the odyssea ballast (if this google image search is correct). Kind of like this:

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...=1&hl=en&tbs=isch:1&ei=d0DSS9vaE57mtQOQmbjnCQ

but it doesn't have the black trip, and it has a smaller switch. There are no identifying marks on the ballast. It has specs, but no model #, brand or anything like that. WTF

 

[blk822822]

my odyssea ballasts are all black and have a smaller switch. the cord plugs into it and then has a long lead to the fixture.

 

[ac7av]

Sounds like a case of high line voltage.
Most commonly what I find in my line of work when that happens is a bad ground or neutral to ground connection. It can cause the 240vac circuit to be unbalanced when a 120vac load is applied to your circuit. Do you ever have a case of turning something on in your home and the lights get brighter or dimmer if something goes on or off? That would cause something like that and it would not blow a GFI or surge protector because its not a leak to ground and it doesn’t spike the voltage to a point that the surge protector even things it’s a problem. You could get like 160vac out of a 120vac circuit, that could blow the lights and would explain both lights on two ballasts going at the same time.

 

[jrgilles]

OK, thanks. I just called my dad who is a decent electrician to ask how to correct that problem.

He said what you're talking about he calls a floating neutral, and that I should get a $5 GFI tester and there are 2 lights on it that will tell me if the outlet is wired properly.

He also said I could test it by shutting off every other circuit braker (as every other level top to bottom in the breaker box is on a separate phase) and shut off the 220 appliances (where it would leak over between phases) and check the voltage. It should be half of what I read across the 2 hots coming into the house. He said to check both phases by doing this both ways, and they should be exactly half.

I'm going to pick up a tool to test this tomorrow and see what I can find.

He said if I don't find anything, call him back. Could be something with the voltage coming in.

Thanks for your response. That sound about right?

 

[jrgilles]

Made a noob mistake and misdiagnosed this. Thought they were burned out because no filament, bought some new bulbs, and I see they don't have filaments.

Anyway, guess thats not my problem. Must be either the wiring or the ballast. I have one ballast that works with one light, but not the other. One ballast that appears not to work.

The cord to the lights comes out of the ballast and goes to a computer power cord type female jack. There is a male piece on the fixture that plugs into this.

The female end coming from the ballast looks pretty burnt up inside. I'm wondering if this is what is causing the issue. Have any of you guys seen this before or have any advice on how to diagnose this?

I'm thinking about maybe cutting off the cord and attaching a new end to it to see if that fixes things.

rob

 

[jrgilles]

update: I replaced the power connection to fixture on the unfunctioning ballast, and it works on the one working bulb again.

Unfortunately, I spliced 14 gauge wire into 18 gauge, so I'm going to go buy some better ends at radio shack. So, now both ballasts work on one bulb, so I'll replace the other ends and then work my way down the wiring of the unfunctioning bulb (all the bulbs now also have new boots.)

What a pain in the butt