Help! My MH Bulbs won't fire

[Muleball39]

I have two 175w MH, when I start the ballest up the little bulb in the MH bulbs start to glow and then kick off. I have let it run for an hour now and the little bulbs come on about every 5 min. and kick off. Whats Wrong with Them?

 

[Maldivan]

Doesnt sound like its the bulbs.If theyve been running fine in the past and your just now having problems Id suspect your ballast is on the way out. You could try swapping the bulbs but I doubt that will fix it. Try turning one side on and wait to see if your bulb fires then try other side. If they both wont fire ....... How old is the ballast?

 

[supertech3]

Are both the bulbs doing the same thing?

 

[szwab]

what kind of bulb and ballast?

 

[Muleball39]

I don't know what kind of ballast it is the bulbs are Hamilton Tech made in Germany. I just took one out and the other fired up so while the other one was on I screwed in the other and it is still doing the same thing. I just bought these from a guy, it was a setup already wired with two 175w MH, 2 VHO and 2 PC. It looked like it had been wired by an electrician. It has a quick connect and 3 plugs coming out of the ballest 1 for the MH, 1 For the VHO and 1 for PC's

 

[supertech3]

So the same side is not firing up no matter which bulb you use, correct?

 

[Muleball39]

Don't know I haven't tried the bulb that is working in the other side yet. I will try that and let you know. Any other suggestions? THe MH just doesn't seem very bright either.

 

[supertech3]

We need to isolate the problem to possibly one side by changing the bulb first. Then we can look at some other items.

 

[Muleball39]

I did rewire the lights into my own hood but I was very careful and labeled everything. I just rewire the lights not the ballast. Would I have wired something wrong?

 

[Muleball39]

so I switched the working bulb to the other side and it works over there but the other is still filckerin like before.
Sugestions

 

[supertech3]

It is possible that you mixed something up, did you ever try the fixture out before you did the rewiring?

 

[Muleball39]

The guy I bought it from pluged it in and the MH's started to come on like they are doing but I had him turn them off because I didn't want to wait for them to come on. I was in a hurry because I was on my lunch break. Its like it just doesnt have enough energy to get the other one going. It starts to get bright and then just kicks off. Stumped!

 

[supertech3]

the easy thing to try is let the bulbs cool so you can change them around to rule that out and after this I would find a capacitor there should be one for each light they are usually about 3" long and 1 1/2" wide cylinder looking one could be bad, they make a diff. to how brite the bulbs light.

 

[Muleball39]

THEY ARE BOTH ON NOW!!!! Any sugestions why it took so long to fire them both up?

 

[supertech3]

How long did it take?You may want to try when the bulbs cool-down and remove the bulbs and look into the sockets to make sure that there is nothing wrong with the bulb probe and the MH bulb tip. Then screw the bulbs back until it seats well.