Radium bulbs won't fire

[masgatigata]

Maybe someone here will know what to do. I have a used sfigloi halide/t5 fixture that fires up Phoenix 14k bulbs perfectly. I wanted to give radiums a try, so I made sure I had the proper ballasts (m80) and fired them up. To my disappointment nothing happened. I've tried pulling out the tab to insure proper contact. Nothing. I've ruled out the bulbs being the problem. I've tried old bulbs, new bulbs but they do not fire. Anyone have any ideas why not, if it can be fixed, and how to go about fixing it?

Thanks for any help.

 

[quagmire]

What brand is the ballast?

 

[masgatigata]

Hamilton m80

 

[quagmire]

New or used?

 

[masgatigata]

Brand new ballasts. Used fixture though. Phoenix 14k work fine just not the radiums.

 

[cdamiano]

That's odd. M80 ballasts are the correct ballast to fire a Radium bulb. Maybe you have bad bulbs?

 

[JB NY]

Call up Hamilton. They are great people. The Radium needs the ballast to fire it's ignitor. Most other MH lamps (not DE lamps) have a built in one, which is why you might not be seeing the problem on your other lamps.

 

[masgatigata]

That's odd. M80 ballasts are the correct ballast to fire a Radium bulb. Maybe you have bad bulbs?

I tried old bulbs that I know work on another fixture. It doesn't fire them either.

 

[masgatigata]

Call up Hamilton. They are great people. The Radium needs the ballast to fire it's ignitor. Most other MH lamps (not DE lamps) have a built in one, which is why you might not be seeing the problem on your other lamps.

I contacted hamilton. They said it's the correct ballast for the radium bulbs. Could it be that there is something wrong with the fixture? Does that have anything with the light firing?

 

[JB NY]

It does not, the fixture has just two wires going to the lamp, one connects to the metal ring on the lamp, the other to the center of the ring. It goes through the mogul socket but it is the same concept.

If it lights any MH the contact are all in the right place.

 

[masgatigata]

It does not, the fixture has just two wires going to the lamp, one connects to the metal ring on the lamp, the other to the center of the ring. It goes through the mogul socket but it is the same concept.

If it lights any MH the contact are all in the right place.

I'm going to call Hamilton again. Maybe there's something wrong with the ballast firing the radiums.

 

[MIKE NY]

I replied to this on the other site, but forgot ask which M80 ballast are you running? There are two models. I'm using the HQI version which is the correct ballast for Radiums. BTW after breaking in my bulbs fire right up now, but once in awhile one won't so I still think there is a problem with the newer bulbs.

 

[masgatigata]

Hi, yes they are HQI. I talked to quagmire yesterday and I think he may have figured it out. The chord from ballast to fixture is 12ft long. I'm going to shorten it to see if it provides more juice to fire the bulbs.

 

[quagmire]

Mike, masgatigata ordered a new cord with her ballast. She was sent a 12' cord. She spliced that cord to the existing cord from the fixture. The cord length is now quite long. I read a thread on RC where someone explained that ballast may have a short range igniter which supposedly will not fire a radium bulb with a cord over 5'. I'm not sure if this is fact or fiction but it might be the problem. I'm going to try to see her this weekend and see if i can reconnect a shorter cord and resolve the issue. Let me know what you think.

 

[masgatigata]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped but especially Quagmire. I shortened the lamp chord to 17" and both bulbs fired up. I finally have those radiums humming.