Metal Halide Woes

[Roach]

Ok, so I recieved my second Pendent Hood from Custom Sealife today. The first one was defective. I put in my Aqua Connect 400 watt 11k bulb and ....nothing happens. Turn it off wait 15 minutes....still nothing. I have screwed it in till the point that I think it will break if I do much more. This bulb did work on the first hood for a little while but it hasn't even flickered on this hood. Anybody have any idea what the problem could be? Should I try a different bulb? I got it from Reef Geek and the guy there said that sometimes the light won't come on for a day or so. Kinda of like breaking it in he said. He said it always happens with these bulb. Does that sound right to you guys?

 

[Roach]

*bump*

 

[Big R]

Never heard of that bulb, try Ushio 10,000K's. Never had a problem with them.

R

 

[Brad Ward]

Roach,

It may not be making contact with the socket correctly. Try this, unplug the ballast and remove the bulb. Inside the socket there is a prong on the bottom of it. If this prong is flat against the bottom, it will not make contact with the bulb. Use a screwdriver to raise it a little and try the bulb again. No bulb should EVER take a day to light.

hth

 

[Roach]

One more question. Is the little round metal thing in the socket the only thing that is supposed to make contact with the bulb's base or are the screws that hole the lead wires supposed to come in contact also? I'm not sure if the bulb I have goes down fare enough to reach those screws. I am really afraid of screwing it down to hard in fear of breaking it.

 

[mbsparo]

Do you have a voltmeter? If so, take the bulb out and turn the light on. Use the meter to verify that you have juice to the socket. Yes, can be the bulb, no then start working you way backwards.

Take care

 

[Roach]

shameless bumping.

 

[Billan]

I also has a Pendent Hood from Custom Sealife. I run a 250W MH bulb in it. When I first got it I screwed the bulb in till the point where I thought it was going to break. I turned it on and nothing happened. I called my LFS where I bought it and they said sometimes it may take a while for the bulb to turn on. I left it on for 20 min. with the light not coming on. I removed the bulb again and tryed screwing it in again. I found it gets very tight if the bulb is not perfectly straight while screwing it in. I took a ruler with the power off I measured the distance from the tab inside the socket to the outside of the socket. I then measured the bulb to see how far it had to go in. The bulb was tight but no wear near far enough in side the socket. The bulb should not be showing any threads when it is all the way screwed in. The edge of the socket at least on mine is right of to the point where the bulb slants down to the threads. It is hard to keep straight because you can not touch the bulb with your hands. Just try to hold it as steady as possible and it should not get tight until the last couple of turns. If it gets tight before then it is cross threading so back it out and try again. Hope this helps..

 

[Roach]

Thanks Billian. I'll give it a shot.

 

[Roach]

Hey Billan, did you have any trouble with the screws inside the socket coming loose when you screwed in the bulb. One of them became really loose so now the white wire will fall off of it sometimes.