unusual lighting problem...

[Brad Black]

I have 4 t-12 vho's (110w ea) run by a icecap 660. The problem is that I have been having trouble starting the lights. They will come on but then immediately go back out. I have to keep restarting them over and over and they eventually will stay on until I turn them off. I have also found that if I leave the power to them (when they are off) overnite, they seem easier to get lit (almost like they light easier with a hot balast). On a total cold-start they just wont light until I leave power to them for several hours and then try to restart again. The bulbs are about 6 months old but do show some darkening on the ends. I replaced some of the bulbs with no luck. I have even tried replacing the WP endcaps with no change. Some of the old bulbs remain and I will replace the rest when I can. I called IC they said to send the unit in (I have only one unit so I would be without light and that is not an option for now)

Has anyone ever had this problem, or ever heard of anything like this? I will update as I change out more bulbs. Hopefully I don't have to send the unit out...if I do I'm not sure what I can do.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Brad Black]

Forgot to mention- I am also looking to go MH. Retros in 250w would be about right and I need 2. Then I could use the t-12's as actinic suplementation only and this problem I'm having wouldn't be such a big deal. So if anyone knows of anyone who has 2-250w set-ups, please LMK. CASHMONEY baby...thanks again.

 

[Bowman]

Brad if you want to send it in to IC they will turn it around usually the same day they recieve it so at worst case senario the tank would be without lights for 2-3 days max. If you ship it tomorrow IC would get it on Wednesday and you would probably have it back on Thursday. Double check all your connections in the endcaps and any crimpped connectors between the ballast and endcaps. There used to be some good troubleshooting help on the IC website. You can test with regular tubes from Lowes or home depot to see if it is the bulbs or the ballast. They don't have to be VHO lamps. I think I have a spare you could borrow.

 

[Bowman]

Brad check out this thread might be what you're looking for.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1249127

 

[CleveYank]

consider moisture and salt vapor issues

consider moisture and salt vapor issues

Maybe this is what's up with your lights.

I had 3 computers in my last digs which were oddly enough in the same room with my 90 gallon reef tank with, a sump, a Ca reactor, a refugium.

Shortly after the PC's were running...like about 6 months to a year I started getting problems with them...or my flourescent lights in the room whenever it got damp outside...kinda like in the Spring and Fall. But the wiring would "dry out" I guess after things were hot or allowed to run for some time and it would go away.

PC's...well I fried boards and all kinds of stuff. I had no place for both of my hobbies/pc's were job related at the time but fun too.

My guess is that your lights might be shorting or having moisture combined with salt vapor issues in wiring or the ballast itself.

When I moved to house where I could vent out vapor from skimmer and such I have not had lights or anything electric have issues like I did before. That might be what's causing the problems for you as well.


SO.
Questions I would wonder are?
Is ballast just messed up? Is it localized wiring issue between ballast and bulbs where wiring insulation is compromised and needs to cook off the dampness before it will keep the bulbs lit?
Is there alot of humidity in the room where you keep your tank/setup? Is there a source of fine saltmist in the air of this area via skimmer, overflowing splashing within sump and or airstones?

After you send ballast back I would recommend measuring the humidity in the immediate area/space where you keep your tank. And make an acessment of your ventilation vs. items that can produce fine atomized salt vapor to collect on the electrical items and wiring in that space.

 

[Brad Black]

Thank you all very much for the help...frustrating. I now have lots of new ammo for the fight. I will keep checking and report back. Bye the way do you guys think that 3-5 days without light will be ok for the corals/etc? LPS, softies? Fish should be ok, everything else is working well in the system. My house is unfortunately a very dry house, and I have checked and re-checked the connections and fuses. Alas, I will take a more detailed look again. The lights are all under a hood, the balast is mounted outside of the hood out of the way of salt, etc, I have a separate sump with the skimmer in the bottom of the cabinet, well away from the lighting and balast. I do have a high internal overflow box that has a cover, but I keep the cover off for cooling reasons. Maybe thats a good place to try to, as in to put the cover back on. The lights are 6-8" above the top of the tank, even higher off the water by a few inches (acrylic tank with top holes). Great idea with the cheap bulbs, didn't think of that!

 

[rj ripetide]

Brad,
I had a problem similar to yours. I had an IC extension wiring harness for my IC 660. I came home one evening and the lights were out. This had happened before but didn't know why.
While turning on the lights with the room dark, I saw the wires were arching between each other.
The insulation on the wires had broken down and I could see the wire arching the whole length of the extension harness.
Once I removed the harness it worked fine.
So my suggestion is to check your wires to see if they are arching any where also check the connectors.
If your wires check out ok....Do you have anyone close to you that you can try your ballast on their lights?

 

[Brad Black]

I'm not sure about a backup loan balast. But last night I did trysome of the things you guys suggested. I cleaned and inspected the wire harness (salt on it but still intact so far although it is getting near time to replace). Put another WP endcap on and tried some NO bulbs I had lying around (only 2 though), with a slightly better result, but still a problem. They do come on easier, I am going to start investing in a t-5 sys and try to make it work for now-don't want to buy new bulbs just to change to t-5's. I may pick up some new NO bulb from home depot to try again. Again, tyhanks

 

[oldreefer76]

I would send the Ballast to IC 3 days with out light will not hurt, the corals, I am fairly positive you will have the same problems with the T5 if you use the same ballast