MH Light not coming on instantly.

[pree]

Ok...I feel really stupid asking this..

I have a JBJ Viper K2 Light fixture.

Here the power supply provides power at 220 v and so to use this fixture I have to use a step down converter to get 110v.

Now my question is that the fan works fine, the moonlight led work fine, but the MH is not turning on. I kept it on for 5 secs and then got worried and turned it off. The indicator light turns ON and glows red, the fixture makes a healthy sound like its working but the light doesnt come on for the 5 secs I kept it on. Isn't it supposed to come on instantly?

Please help!

 

[oldsaltman]

I don't know anything about your setup, but my lights take 5 -15 seconds to come on. I think that is normal for MH bulbs.

 

[pree]

Thank You! Thats what I wanted to know...generally how long does it take for MH (150 watt double ended HQI) to startup...

 

[oldsaltman]

I don't know about them. Mine are SE and one comes on first then 10-15 seconds later the second one comes on. May be someone with these type bulbs will help you out.

 

[atwinparadox2]

I have a 175 Watt hamilton SE bulb firing on an icecap ballast and it fires instantly.

 

[ReefEnabler]

all my MH bulbs take a while to get bright enough to where I can tell they are on. my hamilton 14ks are quicker but radium 20k takes a few minutes and cycles through different colors before settling on the crisp blue white.

 

[reefscape15]

I just built a 250watt SE fixture with an M58 ballast. My system has a capacitor, which takes a few seconds to charge, then send the power to the bulb, which also take a few seconds to really see any light that overpowers my T-5's. Just to let people know-the time that you capacitor takes to charge is the same time it takes to discharge, so if you unplug it, it may take up to 30 seconds or so to completely discharge! Please be careful, with our ballasts putting out 350ish volts and 2 amps or so, it's enough to fry your fingers very quickly!