DE bulbs not working

[pirate2876]

So I had to go and try to fix something that wasn't broken.

I had been contemplating running a 10k bulb instead of the Phoenix bulbs to try and increase growth. In my setup I have 2x 250w DE halides running off a SLS dual HQI ballast. I like the Phoenix, but I just wanted to see if the 10k bulb would dramatically improve growth or just help a little.

Well, one day one of the bulbs stopped lighting up. The bulb would have a hard time firing, and would take a while to finally light up. The other side was fine and lit no problem. After a week or so the bulb stopped firing. So I figured the bulb must have gone out and I ordered 2 new 10k Ushio bulbs. So, I changed the bulbs and they work fine the first day. Then the same fixture that had problems before goes out the next day. So it has to be either the fixture itself, or the ballast, right?

I decided I will just get 1 new fixture and ballast for the broken pendant. Keeping the one that works. This will give me a bit of flexibility down the road if I want.

Well, I get the new pendant(Cayman Sun DE) and remove the old one. Also a tremendous pain in the ass to mount. Then install the bulb and new ballast and nothing. No light. I contact Marine Depot and ask about the ballast being compatible with HQI bulbs. They say no issue. The ballast(CoralVue Luxcore) is suppose to fire DE bulbs no problem. So I figure I should just switch the bulbs and see if they work. One breaks off when I try and remove it. Damn...So I use an old bulb in the new pendant and try that. It works. Both run off the dual ballast fine. No need for new ballast.

I figure I can just send the Coralvue ballast back and be done with it. Well, two days later the other new 10k bulb stops working. No spark, no nothing firing. These damn bulbs have been giving me nothing but grief. Luckily Dr. Foster and Smith will take an exchange for new bulbs.

By this point I am super frustrated over this and about what a pain in the ass installing DE bulbs can be, so I just order a 250 mogul socket with a 20k Radium. This has to work, right? Can anyone see any bulb and ballast compatibility issues I missed? Can one side of a dual ballast go bad? And if so, how come everything was fine for a day?

Any info would help. Thanks.

[DaveMorris]

Sounds like a tough one. Yes, one side of a dual ballast can go bad. Every one of them that I have opened up, which is quite a few, is basically two ballasts in one box. Because of this, all of the circuitry inside is duplicated into two completely separate circuits. The only exception I have seen is the power cord and power switch are sometimes shared. The starting circuit may be bad in the ballast. That would explain the lamp firing the first day but not after that. The Luxcore ballasts are good ballasts. I had them for my current set up and had to get rid of them because they interfered with my controller. I am now using two AquaMedic Reeflux magnetic ballasts with 14k Phoenix HQI lamps and I love it. No problems so far.

[pirate2876]

Dave, do you do repair work on ballasts? Do you take frags as payment?