Icecap

[ronald.vaughn]

To try and stay short and sweet I set up a light system of mine last night and needless to say it's not working the way I'd hoped. It's a VHO 4 48" bulbs with Icecap 660 ballast. When I plug it in I see two of the bulbs come on for a flicker and then that's it. I'm no expert, but I've checked the wiring and connections to the bulbs and I can only guess it's the ballast. The system was working a year ago but when I went to halides I let it sit, but was looking to add the atinic's for the blue with my 10k bulbs on the MH's.

Any ideas out there::rollface:

 

[Bowman]

Ron go to the Icecap website and there you will find a troubleshooting guide that will help you identify the problem area. You can also post in the Icecap forum. Could be wiring ballast or the bulbs the guide will help. Cheers.

 

[Bowman]

You can also wire it to run 2,3, or 4 lamps. The wiring guides are also on the website. Might help to isolate the problem.

 

[Tswifty]

If the bulbs flicker then go off, something is wrong in the wiring.

 

[ronald.vaughn]

Thanks for the advice I actually printed up the wiring setup for the icecap earlier today. As for the bulbs flicker that's not the case. Two of them turn on then after a moment shut off while the other two do nothing. It's weird. I'm hoping tomorrow to try and rewire it to see if I can just get two of the bulbs to work otherwise I'm guessing a ballast will be in my future. I might have to talk to firemedic cause I saw he had two in an later post. Thanks for the advice, all comments are welcome, even some of the wise crack ones from our comics out there!

 

[mike660r]

The last time I had this issue it was the ballast. I sent it in and it was fixed at the cost of shipping.

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13766225#post13766225 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ronald.vaughn
Thanks for the advice I actually printed up the wiring setup for the icecap earlier today. As for the bulbs flicker that's not the case. Two of them turn on then after a moment shut off while the other two do nothing. It's weird. I'm hoping tomorrow to try and rewire it to see if I can just get two of the bulbs to work otherwise I'm guessing a ballast will be in my future. I might have to talk to firemedic cause I saw he had two in an later post. Thanks for the advice, all comments are welcome, even some of the wise crack ones from our comics out there!

Initially when I recieved my 430 the same thing happened. 1 bulb would turn on for a second, then shut off. I took the whole thing apart, started over, rewired it, and it fired up fine.

I believe IceCap even has a statement somewhere in the instructions or somewhere that says if the bulbs light for a second then go out, something is crossed in the wiring.

Testing out another ballast would be a sure fire way to diagnose if it was a ballast or wiring problem though.

 

[Fdfiremedic]

I have the printout for all the wiring and could help you if you wanna bring it by I have extra ballasts you can try it out on or borrow if you need. Let me know Ben

 

[Tswifty]

I'm trying to remember, but isn't there a connection between 2 of the endcaps that you need to cut a seperate piece of wire for?

 

[ronald.vaughn]

Ben that would be great. Maybe over the weekend. I have the print out too, but doesn't seem to matter how I wire it. I'll give you a call if I don't see you on Friday. This way I know you'll get those clippers for sure.

 

[Tswifty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13772404#post13772404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tswifty8
I'm trying to remember, but isn't there a connection between 2 of the endcaps that you need to cut a seperate piece of wire for?

 

[ronald.vaughn]

Well just to let those know that have helped me out that I did some rewiring and the ballast worked for two bulbs and I set it back up to the four bulb configuration and it worked. I must of had a bad connection between bulb and t12 connectors.

Thank you all for your info.

 

[1628mna]

i had the same thing happen to me on my 660. flicker than shut off, then the smell we all fear wire burning smell. here i went from 4 bulbs to 3 bulb and assumed i wired it right. i didnt and got the same wiring diagram that is on this post and its good to go. just good to know you got it strightened out without burning the house down!

 

[ronald.vaughn]

I'd have to agree with you 1628mna, because my wife would probably kill me!

 

[Murphs205]

thats the ticket right there , the diagram T posted is the way mine are set up and run great ,,, you still have to take them apart at times and clean the stuff ,,it will get some stuff up in them and fry the ends of your bulbs off ,,i clean mine every 3 months or so , i have cooked a couple of them ,, need to keep them pretty clean and have a GOOD connection , proper spacing. and they should run for a good long time

 

[terrysfish]

I hade a problem like this and the ballest was bad

 

[ronald.vaughn]

Sorry to Hear that terryfish. I know when I reset my lights back up that they worked when I took them down and thought it had to be in the wiring, but it ended up being in the connection of the endcaps to the bulbs. Sorry to hear it was your ballast.