MH intermittent firing problem

[nine8taco]

Hey guys i have a light fixture that contains 2 double ended 250w MH bulbs 4 54w t5s and some moonlights. My left MH bulb has been intermittently not coming on. I replaced the ballast and it worked great for about a week and now has consistently been off for about a week. The ballast has a green power indicator light on the ballast itself and that is on so i know i have power there. also i cleaned the contacts on the bulb and the contacts on the terminals and also moved the terminals closer to maximize contact area between the bulb contacts and terminal contacts. still no dice. Any ideas? Also how would i go about testing power at the terminals to rule out wiring issues internal to the fixture? Voltage across terminals with bulb connected or not? how would i test wattage at the terminals? Thanks in advance! -Jordan

 

[sirreal63]

Did you try replacing the bulb?

 

[nine8taco]

No I have not replaced the bulb. I swapped the ballasts and the problem moved over to the other side, that's where I got replacing the ballast from. Can A bulb not fire for days and then just randomly fire?

 

[sirreal63]

I thought you replacd the ballas, not just swapped it around. There are really only three things that can go wrong, bulb, socket or ballast. What brand fixture is this?

 

[nine8taco]

I swapped the ballasts as a way of diagnosing the issue and then replaced the ballast after the problem moved. I bought it used and it doesn't have any sort of marking on it but I'm pretty sure it's an odyssea

 

[sirreal63]

I would be opening it up and double checking the wiring, Odyssea has a history of loose and shoddy wiring. I would also consider not putting any more money in one of those fixtures.