VHO fixture will not fire bulb.

[wetWolger]

I have a VHO fixture for actinic suplementation. It contains two 95watt 36in bulbs. The front bulb works fine, fires and looks perfect. Today the back bulb I found dead. I woke up this mornign and it turned on fine and normal but when teh MH went out I notice only one of my bulbs was running.

When I replaced that bulb with the working front bulb it will not fire. The ends glow like it is trying to fire but nothing happens. I have tried to reseat the bulb several times and am getting no luck.

When I put in the bulb in the front fixture that the working bulb came out of it will not fire. The bulb that was in the rear and will not fire is darkened on the ends....this darken area is the same area that dimly lites on the working bulb.

My theroy is the fixture is not fireing the bulbs and the bulb trying to fire for a day ended up killing the bulb. So the question is how do I fix this? It can't be the balast because the same balast runs both bulbs. I think it may be in the connector because about 2 months ago some salt spray got on one of the ends and it smoked and even cought fire for a half second.

Is it possible to replace this end (the unit is a retro). What should I do or am I just doomed to one bulb? Thank you

 

[wetWolger]

i found this:
http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...roduct_Code=END-CAPG&Category_Code=VHOballast
You think this will solve my issue? Is it possible that a faulty end cap is what is causing my bulbs to not fire? Is there any way to test this? Thanks

 

[wetWolger]

come on....has no one had a failed end cap? does this sound like the symptom of a failed end cap? should I post this in general discussion?

 

[Entropy]

Could be the ballast unless you have the bulbs wire in series. Could also be the endcap, or the wiring. I would check all the wiring and make sure everything is secure and wired correctly. My guess is a wire came loose.