Light not working

[Rhodophyta]

After a few hundred hours, my MH light doesn't come on any more. Nothing looks broken. No bad smells. How long should the bulb last, if it's the bulb that's bad, and I don't see anything to tell me it's bad. How can I test it or have it tested?

 

[nanoreef58]

what type ballast are you using? what wattage and manf?

 

[mike660r]

If you have a 250 or 400 watt bulb you are more than welcome to come over and test the bulb out on my ballasts. That way you can verify if its the bulb or the ballast. I have heard of MH bulbs going bad in as little as two weeks. Mostly in the XM brand. Hope this helps you out a little.

Mike C

 

[nanoreef58]

Dan,
give me all the info you can on your mh lighting set up and maybe I can help you out better, btw the bulb should be good for around 3k hours unless it is a radium

 

[Rhodophyta]

It's an Ice Cap ballast for 150 watt ceramic metal halide that I won at our NEOMAC. The reflector I got from Dave A. but I don't see any logo or name on it anywhere, and I can almost remember the brand name. Almost. An electrician who used to be a C-SEA member assembled everything for me.

I did notice some frosty white bands at either end of the globe inside the bulb and I don't recall whether I saw those before.

We had it for a while on the tidepool tank, but it burned some surface stuff so we turned it off for a few months. Then after just a few weeks of recent use, it stopped working.

 

[Bowman]

Dan is it a mogal base bulb or a double ended. I might be able to help you out either way.

 

[Rhodophyta]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7308983#post7308983 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bowman
Dan is it a mogal base bulb or a double ended. I might be able to help you out either way.

Double ended.

 

[Bowman]

I have a bulb we can try. Make sure the ends are contacting the bulb securely. I had one where the light holder ends were not contacting with enough pressure and caused problems. Give me a call at home tonight.