how long for halides to turn on?

[Cozen89]

I bought a used Hamilton Retro kit. 2 175 halides with 2 140 watt VHO's. The VHO's turn on right away but the Halides take awhile to turn on. Sometimes only 1 will turn on and the other won't for 5 minutes or more. Then I turn it off and back on and the other halide will come on right away but the one that was just on won't turn on.

Is there something wrong with my ballast? Or is this just how Halides behave?

 

[Nano Chris]

Mine take a few seconds to come on when turned on, if you turn them off the bulbs have to cool down before they will re-ignite, thats why they don't come back on for a few minutes when you turn them on.

 

[bertoni]

Yes, a MH bulb won't start when hot, so that's one issue. Five minutes seems a little long to me, but not that bad. Mine take more like a minute or so, as I recall. You could ask the manufacturer, I guess.