Lighting Problems... Please Help

[lizardking38]

Hello All,

I have a 48" dual 150 W metal halide with 4 21 watt T5 bulbs. Recently, a couple of the T5s have not fired up with the light. I tried installing new bulbs and they still would not work. All of the bulbs I tried to put in work in the remaining working sockets. I am not an electrician or that knowledgable about diagnosing the actual problem. Let me know if any other information is needed. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Brian

 

[adamjr]

Hi Brian,

Sounds like the ballast or one of the ballasts that run the t-5's is toast.

If there are four t-5's in your setup inside the ballast enclosure is either a single ballast with two separate circuits that each run two t-5's or there are two ballasts that each run two bulbs.

If you are not particularly comfortable messing with the electrical then you are better safe then sorry and shouldn't. If it is something you are confident you can tackle then open up the ballast enclosure and peer inside. You should be able to see from where the wires are routed which ballast is the issue.

Last I checked Home Depot and lowes both carried T-5 ballasts. Just match up the ratings. Otherwise see what markings are on the ballast(s) in your enclosure and do a google search. Most fixture manufacturers use off the shelf parts.

Good luck.

Adam

 

[Pufferpunk]

Some ballast companies offer lifetime repllacement on their product. See if there is a phone # on there. I dropped my PC into my tank & blew one out & they sent me 2!

 

[lizardking38]

Thanks Adam. I will take a look at the ballasts. It has a remote ballast for the metal halides and will have to see if they are housed there too or in the fixture itself.

 

[lizardking38]

Bump. Any other thoughts?

 

[FiberLux]

Brian,

Adam is right on target. If you have four fluorescent lamps and two are not firing, even after replacing the lamps, it is most likely a failed ballast. There should be two ballasts inside the fixture enclosure, each operating two lamps. You simply need to replace whichever one is not working and you'll be good to go!

Boyd