bad ballast or bulbs?

[Gomer]

tonight, my radium went out. I let it cooldown and it wouldn't fire. I happened to have Bryan's used 10kk reeflux and it turned on, then after a little, it started flickering, going through some color shifts (not the usual turn on color shift) and then went out.

Is this typical of dead bulbs or is the ballast all wonky. I think the reeflux is ~ 6months and worked fine at the last meeting. the radium is 5mo old, as is the Icecap ballast (new model).

 

[phishphood]

The 175w ballast I had basically had the same problem. Few different bulbs would sputter, flicker through a few colors and maybe light every now and then. But then after ~30 seconds or so they'd just go out. One or two different bulbs didn't even light/get beyond the filament glowing a tad.

Not sure what the problem is though, just adding more evidence to what's going on with yours. Put the bulbs on a different ballast (everything else stayed the same) and it was just fine. I still have the bad ballast if you want to check it out. Maybe the cap went out or something? No clue really...

 

[Gomer]

Electronic Icecap ballast, so no Cap (in the traditional sense of a magnetic).

 

[sfsuphysics]

my bet is ballast

 

[dswong01]

Tony
I have a spare ice cap 250w you test with

 

[Gomer]

I need to get a new bulb anyways, but I might also take you up on that too. What city are you in Dudley? Luckily, I have another MH/PC light and a T5 setup that I can use on the tank so resolution isn't required immediately.

 

[dswong01]

Castro Valley just over the hill from livermore

 

[seminolecpa]

If Dudley can't hook you up I have one as well that I can let you borrow at the BOD meeting if you can return it to me at the Dec meeting.

 

[Gomer]

I ordered an XM20 from hellolights. Depending on how they ship, I might get a bulb tomorrow. If it fires up fine, then all is well (I think?). If not, then I'll see how desperate I get and might just make the drive.

Thanks guys.