Metal Halide not lighting

[nkd5024]

I have two 250 watt 14k phoenix bulbs run on a sunlight supply galaxy dual ballast. I have had this setup for a little longer than a year now.

Recently I have woken up to only one of the bulbs running, almost always the same bulb. I then have to unplug the ballast from my apex and let the bulbs cool for 15 minutes or so before turning them back on. Most of the time this results in both bulbs turning on, but sometimes only one will come on again in which case I repeat steps.

I tried to just unplug the non-lit bulb from the ballast for a few minutes and then plug it back in to see if it would light but it has never worked. I always have to cut the power to the ballast via the manual control on apex or physically unplugging.

I have the lights controlled by an apex using the 4th outlet (relay) as I know sometimes the solid state outlets have trouble with higher power lighting.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nkd5024]

Just restarted the system to try and get both bulbs to start. When one of the bulbs doesn't light it initially starts the same as it normally would for a second, then just stops.

 

[sirreal63]

What happens if you bypass the Apex and plug straight into the wall?

 

[nkd5024]

Didn't think to try that for some reason. I'll wait until lights out and then after the bulbs cool down try it straight into the wall and if they both turn on more than a few times without messing up, I guess its time to call apex for the third time, haha. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks

 

[Playa-1]

I would swap positions of the bulb and see if the same bulb shuts off in the opposite position.

 

[nkd5024]

I switched the which connector each bulbs is plugged into and it is always the same bulb that doesn't work. Although I did notice the the reset circuit breaker button on the ballast doesn't do anything when pushed, even when bulbs are running. Is it possible for the bulb to be bad and it still turn on for a few minutes as it is?

 

[sirreal63]

Yes it is possible. Did you try plugging directly into a wall outlet and bypassing the Apex?

 

[djsmallz]

Also try looking at the capacitor it maybe going bad that's how mine started then it wouldn't fire up for days at a time, once I took a look inside my capacitor was melting

 

[nkd5024]

Yeah I plugged directly into the wall with the same results. I tried to look at the interior of the ballast but the salt started to corrode the screws so I couldn't remove them all easily.

So after assuming the high temp wire was old and redoing all the connections, it ended up being the bulb going bad. I didn't know a bulb could go bad that way. :hmm5:

Anyways, I got an old bulb in there so at least the corals have some light until I get a new bulb.

Thanks for all the help,
Nick D.