Galaxy dual ballast troubleshooting

[jksites]

I have a Galaxy dual ballast on my frag tank and just noticed last night that it was not on... Both bulbs are not firing. Verified the outlet is powered, bypassed the timer, still no light. It has a reset button but it has not resistance on it so pushing it does no good... I assume if it had tripped it would actually click and allow a reset. Seems unlikely that both bulbs would fail at the same time, but i guess this is a possibility. I need to try to pick up two new bulbs today. Does anyone know if Phishy or Reef Systems stocks 175W bulbs?

Anyone else ever have any issues with Galaxy ballasts? I haven't seen any troubleshooting info online.

Thanks!

 

[jksites]

Replaced both lights, no luck... Appears the ballast is bad.

 

[oldreefer76]

do you have a voltage tick to make sure the ballast is getting input power and to also check for out put voltage to the lamps? I would presume a dual ballast has 2 transformers and 2 capacitors inside and it seems doubtful to me that both would fail

 

[szwab]

Have you tried plugging it into another outlet? May not hep but would eliminate one more variable.

Hopefully it's still under warranty.

 

[Reefdiver72]

They are pretty good about fixing them if you send it in to the for repair.

 

[CleveYank]

I thought most electronic spring loaded resets work where there is no movement on the switch part when the circuit is open (working), and there will be movement when it's tripped and can reset. And if it is just loose and won't catch it means that the fault or problem still exists or that the reset switch or wiring that makes the resettable fuse aspect of the reset portion to it is damaged.

That being said I think you are in what reefdiver says up to trying their customer service out.

 

[jksites]

Well, i've tried a few more things... First I should clarify one variable that may or may not be fully proven out... When I bought the ballast from Aquarium Adventure about 14 months ago it was listed at 175W on the price label, however once I got home I noticed it said dual 150W. Anyway, after discussion with AA they said 175W bulbs would fire fine so I ordered 2 x 175 Hamilton 14ks since there are few kelvins offered in single ended 150W bulbs. These bulbs worked great for about the past 13 months and growth was great in my frag tank which is a shallow 4'x4'x16" tank. All good!

Now that it failed I picked up two more 175W bulbs that are 12k and they too are not firing. Could it be that these bulbs won't fire while the others did?

So, i've tried new outlets, tested with a simple little electical gadget that has a positive/negative side and small led to test open circuits. I've confirmed that it is not the power cord and that current is flowing to the outputs on the ballast where the lamp cords hook in... Not sure on voltage here.

When I called Sunlight Supply I got a less than helpful guy that pointed me back to my point of sale, which was AA. After a bit of discussion about my experience with SS customer service, Jason at AA was very helpful in getting me details on the RMA process. He said SS told him that 9 out of 10 that get returned work fine when they test them... This has me worried that maybe, just maybe a 150W bulb might fire and then I'd look like a schmuck for not using the right bulb size.

Anybody have an old 150 single ended bulb I can borrow to test with? Anyone else run 175W bulbs on a 150w ballast? I have PCs over the tank now in hopes not to lose all my corals as I sort this out.

Thanks for your help!

 

[jamesd74]

this might sound dumb but does your ballast have a fuse on it?

 

[jksites]

this might sound dumb but does your ballast have a fuse on it?

No fuse, has a reset button which I checked for a fuse. The unit has a 2 year unconditional warranty and a 5 year prorated, so opening the case voids the warrant.

Was sent back on Wednesday, awaiting feedback from Aquarium Adventure.

I think the lesson here is no matter how good the warranty, a dual ballast, while cheaper, is not the best way to go. Even if one light stopped working, I'd have to send the whole unit in. :thumbdown

 

[detour]

Our galaxy 150 dual ballast just did the same thing. Did simular testing - different outlet, pushed the rest button, etc. Even took it into the LFS to have them test it driving one of their 150W MH fixtures. Confirmed ballast appears to be bad. We've had it about 13 months and use it with phoenix DE 150W bulbs.

I'm calling on Monday to see about returning it for repair - but in the meantime - the LFS has loaned us some ballasts to use to keep our MH running.

How did your warrantly claim turn out?

Thanks!

 

[jh2pizza]

did you check the output voltage with a meter?

 

[detour]

No, we didn't try testing it with a volt meter. What would I be checking for? And depending on what I find - would it change needing to send it back?

Thanks!

 

[jksites]

In the end it worked out. Sunlight Supply was not helpful at all and made me file my return through the LFS that I bought it from. You are already fairing better than I by getting a loaner. AA did resolve the issue but it took approximately 3 weeks from start to finish. In the end i got a replacement ballast. Good luck. Lesson here for me is dual ballast while convenient and cheaper blows up any redeundancy you'd have with two ballasts.

 

[detour]

Our loaner situation is the older style single ballast with a newer style single ballast plugged into the AC outlet on the older style. Unfortunately, although we can get it to manually work - using our controller to turn it on resets the power brick and eveyrthing else plugged into it goes into fallback mode. So, we are only running the MH when we are home when they turn on. We came home to a dark tank as our other lights are set to off for fallback.

Hoping for a quick replacement... Monday will tell as we reach out to Sunlight Supply.

 

[MJAnderson]

Oddly enough my 400w galaxy ballast just died 2 weeks ago as well. Had to go through the same long process (or Salty Critter had to do it for me). Ballast worked great right up to the point it didn't. =)