new halides wont fire up.

[CMcNeil]

i had them running last night and this morning.i had to reset a circuit breaker in my house and when i did it shut the halides off.my 37g has a halide on it as well but it lit up after about 5 minutes.it has been almost 30 minutes and the new halides havent come back on.i have ice cap ballists,reef optics reflectors and ushio 10k bulbs.so whats the problem?

 

[robthorn]

unplug them for about 15 minutes. they have to reset after cooling down.

 

[ReefArtist]

CheckinHawk did it work? Remember after it fails you need to use the IceCap power switch to cycle power (Turn it off) and it needs to completely cool down (Then use the power switch to turn it back on), like Rob said wait about 15 minutes. I had this problem with my other lights but not with the MH. I think using the ballast on/off switch is what really resets it.

 

[CMcNeil]

ummmmmmmmmm what on off switch?what happens when you arent home and they go off?they should start up after a few minutes,i shouldnt have to unplug them and replug them every time.yes they are on now but it was over an hour before i got them going.

 

[mflamb]

I have the same ballast . No on/off switch.

 

[robthorn]

they are supposed to come back on but I have never seen one come back on that went full out.

 

[chriscobb]

They should only have to cool down for the bulbs to refire....

 

[ReefArtist]

Oh sorry I was thinking of my 660 ballast. But if you read your IceCap instructions they also tell you to "Use the IceCap Digital Timer or power switch to cycle power to the ballast", so I guess whatever they mean by "power switch" on page 3.

Well they shouldn't go off unless you're having electrical problems and in that case I'd like them to stay off - if you know what I mean. When they do go out they are "suppose" to automatically retry several times before turning off, but if it doesn't cool down enough to restart then it shuts down (safety).

My question would be - why did it stay hot that long before you could restart them?

 

[CMcNeil]

they werent hot long,they just didnt refire.i unpluged them a few times before they worked again.

 

[ReefArtist]

Oh and as far as power flickers - mine have come back on each time on their own. I get hit around 10AM three or four times a week - .

 

[ReefArtist]

It might have to do with the circuit breaker tripping - it might have completely shutdown the ballast. Then when you retired at first it wasn't cool enough etc. Just a thought but who knows really. Did you put one of the ballasts on a different circuit?

 

[CMcNeil]

the circuit the lights are on didnt trip.one for the kitchen did,and i wasnt sure which breaker it was so i just reset all breakers.the lights only draw like 2.35 amps max each.so thats only 4.7 amps on a 15 amp circuit.if you add in the pumps at 1.6 and 1.8 amps,i am at 8.2 amps on the circuit.

 

[ReefArtist]

Oh - that's cool not like me having two tanks and everything else in that room drawing off the same breaker. I think I'm going to run a dedicated circuit - when I get time.

 

[CMcNeil]

yeah the dedicated circuit is always nice.in my last house i had a buddy who cam by and ran me two 20amp circuits into a 8 plug outlet.four outlets on each circuit,i was able to run anything i needed.

 

[mflamb]

I have a high quality certified electrician that does very fast, high quality work for $25 per hour on the clock. Cost me about $100 in labor for my four 20 amp circuits from the garage, and he gave me the wire. He gave me a parts list for HD for the breakers and outlets.

 

[ReefArtist]

That's nice mflamb - might need to get the name. The last few electricians I've tried to get were no shows.

 

[Warnberg]

That's odd, I have IceCap ballast's as well and if the power goes off, the halides will automatically come back on in about 5 to 10 minutes. I have had several times where the power will flicker, just enough to make you have reset all the clocks in the house, the halides of course go off, but in about 5 or 10 minutes they re-fire. I believe IceCap has a built-in 5 minute cool down before they will attempt to re-fire the bulb.

 

[ichthyman]

After burning, all metal halides must cool down some before they’ll be able to be ignited again. While power is applied, conventional ballasts continuously attempt to fire a lamp until it ignites. Even if there is a fault in the system the ballast keeps trying to power up the bulb. Needless, to say this can present a fire hazard. IceCap’s ballasts monitor whether a lamp ignites or not and will shutdown if the bulb doesn’t fire after a couple of attempts. This safety feature is very nice but sometimes it can be problematic in certain applications. In most cases, a lamp can restrike within 5-10 minutes, however, environmental conditions or physical setup may allow a bulb to retain heat longer and thus prolonging the interruption of light. Sounds-like to me, the ballasts are “timing out” because the lamps are still too hot to be ignited and unfortunately that will require the ballast to be reset. Did you build a canopy for the fixtures? Got fans? Those SLS fixtures are solidly made and if not enough ventilation is present I could see how they would retain heat.

 

[CMcNeil]

no they arent in a hood yet and no fans yet either.i think the lack of moving air around the reflectors caused them to be hot after the normal refire period.btw i love the color of these bulbs,even without actinics the tank is a nice whitish blue.thanks for the help john.