HELP mh bulb? please respond

[Awibrandy]

Not sure how old the ballast is, but it is a pulstart rated for 175watt bulbs.
Got the ushio in. I only got two, the other is on it's way. I removed two of the old ones, screwed in the new ones. And nothing happened. Took them out again, put them back they flickered, the middle one is the old bulb. When the middle one came on the others went off.

What am I doing wrong? No I am not touching the bulbs with my bare hands.

 

[sanjay]

YOu need to provide more detaisl ? What ballast are you using ? What bulb is this.. just saying its USHIO does not mean much. Since you screwed them in I am guessing its a MOGUL lamp. What wattage ?

sanjay.

 

[Awibrandy]

I'm sorry I don't know much about the ballast. I bought it used, and the only label under it doesn't tell me much (Pulstart 175W 120V 55AMPS). The ballast is outside of the fixture, big heavy black box with an on & off togle switch.
I replaced the old bulbs with identical ones. Ushio 175W 10K SE. I didn't think it would be aproblem. But apparently it is. The middle one which is an old one is on. the other two new ones off to the right, and left of the old one look like they are going to come on, and then they shuf off. This has been happening for at least the past hour and half.

How hard could this possibly be? I change bulb all the time. :usa1:

 

[Psycho graphic]

Have you tried putting the old bulbs back in? Have you looked inside the sockets to make sure they are clean and have no obstructions that would prevent the contacts on the bulbs from making a secure connection? And lastly have you checked all of the wire connections? Sanjay would be much better at diagnosing this than me I'm sure.

Do you know enough about wiring to bypass the switch?

 

[Awibrandy]

Thank you guys. I think they just needed to warm up.:scratch: They just came on.:teeth:

 

[scarf_ace1981]

:groupflip

 

[PalmTree]

Glad it all worked out!!:sleepy:

 

[ReeferGoneMad]

Its because you just shut it off and put the bulbs in then turned it back on to quickly. The ballast usually restarts itself after 15mins the most. Lol glad eveything is working.

 

[crox99]

Initially I thought you had a loose connection but I am glad everything is working fine.

 

[meschaefer]

It is absolutely fantastick that the first person to chime in on this fourm about a lighting problem, is Sanjay.

 

[DEEPWATER]

sheew ,,glad it worked out for you ,remember ,MH ballast can not be turned on and off like a light switch..It take 15-20 for the ballast to restart as RGM stated

Good luck ,and let me know how you like the reeflux bulb

Ronen

 

[crox99]

It is absolutely fantastick that the first person to chime in on this fourm about a lighting problem, is Sanjay.

That's pretty neat.

 

[Awibrandy]

sheew ,,glad it worked out for you ,remember ,MH ballast can not be turned on and off like a light switch..It take 15-20 for the ballast to restart as RGM stated

Good luck ,and let me know how you like the reeflux bulb

Ronen

See, now I have to respond. I know mh ballast does not work like a light switch. And I didn't turn off, and turn it right back on.
Ronen, I started right after you left. It didn't take that long to switch the bulbs. If it were a ballast thing, then why did the old bulb light? I still think the new bulbs needed to warm up. They didn't light until something like 8:30PM from around 6pm that I just walked away, and left the one bulb on.

 

[Awibrandy]

Well, they're not working again. Only the old bulb lights. It was suppose to come on at 1PM. Could the ballast be too old to fire new bulbs?

 

[Awibrandy]

I replaced the new bulbs with the old bulbs,after waiting 15min. I turned them on. Well, they are all on.
What could possibly be the problem why the new bulbs won't light?

 

[sanjay]

The 175W ushio's are a pulse start design, and often will have trouble starting on a standard M57 magnetic ballast.

If your ballast is old, I would strongly recommend replacing the capacitor. If you have a pulse start then you may also want to change the ignitor. Often this solves a lot of problems related to bulb startup and color.

sanjay.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thank you sanjay. I will look into getting these component changed. Yes, the ballast is an old pulse start. How old? I am not sure, I have sent email & pm to ther person I bought it from.

Sanjay, I'm a little dense these days. Forgive me, but why do the old bulbs light, and not the new ones?

 

[Awibrandy]

I have been in touch with the seller of the light fixture.

This is a tar ballast, pulse start. He tells me that the new bulbs have a breaking in period. What this means is that the bulbs will take time to come on the first few times. Once they light, they are to be left on undisturbed for several hours. And after that they should light with out problems.

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

Hey guys, I am the one that sold her the light setup.

With all MH ballasts I have found that there is a "break-in" period. For me, with my new e-ballasts it took about 30 minutes for my new bulbs to light up. With the tar ballasts I found it took slightly longer. (After a frantic call to Champion they suggested I be patient, and sure enough they kicked in on there own)

I suggested that she swap the bulb position (could be that they are not making good contact?) I also suggested that she give them time.

As for 15 minute "restart", only the newer electronic ballasts do this. Older ballasts will try to kick in even if you power down and back up in 30 seconds.

The fixture is an older hamilton hood that is about 8-9 years old. (A little "younger" than my 180)

-Alfred

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks for explaining to all Alfred. These days I found that I am tremendously technologicaly challenged. Didn't use to be the case. As for the bulbs 3 1/2 hours later, and still nothing.:irked:

Hey Deep you around, gonna come over and try them on your ballast as you suggested.