Metal Halide issues, not sure whats going on.

Gorgok

New member
I changed back to MH some time ago but have been having some issues that i am unsure of the cause. First, i got a pair of used Galaxy select-a-watt (250W range) ballasts as it was similar to what i used in the past (ballast was in storage) and some CoralVue bulbs. All 4 bulbs died within a couple of months and after the last one i think one of the ballasts died too. At least it would not fire anything anymore when my old ballast would (same bulb/fixture). Then the other ballast seemed to die too. I got another and used my old one, but the old one seems to have died now as well. I just tried a new bulb on it and it won't fire that, so i assume its ballast not bulb, but i haven't tested the old bulb on the working ballast.

Now i understand these ballasts are old, the newest one was made in 2010, so maybe its just some cheap caps finally drying up and stuff, but it also seems to kill bulbs before that. But i expect i need to go to something made a little more recently even if its a cheap chinese electronic one at this point, or magnetic.

I have never used magnetic ballasts, just the electronic ones so i don't know how those are ideally mounted/secured as they seem to just be a transformer and cap flapping in the breeze. Should they be in a box or something?

Or would cheap chinese electronic ballasts work? (Not that they are cheap compared to M58 ballasts).

I really do like the MH lights and plan to stay, just need to fix this dumb issue (which is most likely my fault using such old junk).
 
I recommend switching to radium 20k 250w metal halides. With these bulbs use a hamilton m80 magnetic ballast. You'll get about 16 month life, great color, and better par than you were with the other setup. These are for mogul reflectors.
 
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