XM SE bulb users please help compatibilty issuses?

[tetra9999]

can anyone confirm or deny that 250 XM 10K SE bulbs wont fire very well on an electronic ballast? Ive got reef fanatic e-ballasts the new style (version 2) and they will only fire for about 1 minute and then go out.

Anyone out there running XM 10K SE bulbs please respond with what ballast you currently are using. The ballasts will fire my 12K coralvue bulbs no problem.

I'm at a loss.. I'm thinking that I would need to try the bulbs on someone elses ballast to see if they fire and then maybe purchase that type of ballast.

Im really sold on the par output of the XM's.

 

[brians_224]

I'm running 2 - 250 watt 10K XM bulbs on EVC ballasts - no problems.

 

[lcashman]

I was running the XMs on a magnetic ballast and had no problems. Might want to contact XM or the ballast manufacturer to troubleshoot the ballast/bulbs.

 

[jwalters103]

ive run xm 20k and 10k on icecap ballasts and have had numerous problems with getting the bulbs to fire. this is a reported problem with icecap ballasts and xm bulbs. i contacted icecap and all they said was that it was an issue, they were working on the problem, and they would be willing to install a restart circuit on my ballasts so that the ballast would continue to restart until the bulb had fired, but from reading the description of your problem, it sounds like you already have that circuit in your ballast. have you tried to fire other bulbs with those ballasts to make sure thats not the problem

 

[tetra9999]

yes they will fire 12K coralvue bulbs no problem.. I think its just a problem with these bulbs in particular the guys at Premium Aquatics said that they know someone or what not that has this setup and they are working.. problem is, Im not willing to go buy another set of bulbs to test their theory out. Hopefully they will take back the ballast I just got yesterday and alow me to to purchase I guess at PFO magnetic ballast..

 

[geppert]

The guys at premium are great to work with, I am sure they will fix the problem. I had a XM bulb quit working and they sent me a new one ASAP.

 

[McBeck]

I have a 250 XM 10k on the Reef Fanatic ballast and it works no problem. I'm not sure if I have the old or new style ballast though. Maybe your bulbs are bad?

I'm sure Premium will work with you to fix the problem. Their cust svc is the best.

 

[DrBDC]

An electronic ballast will fire all the styles/types. So it's something in the wireing or the bulb.

 

[tetra9999]

Ive rechecked the wiring and even put the ballast(s) on a dedicated circit. They will fire my old coralvue bulb no problem. The ballasts go through their restart phase (wait 5 minutes before trying again with the xm's) I would think that if it were the bulbs they would either not light at all or maybe just flicker. The ballast fireing the bulbs for atleast a minute and then doing its restart thing makes me think it would be the ballast not being able to fire or hold enough power to keep them lit. It might just be these particular XM 10k's just wont work.
I'm hoping to be able to atleast test the XMs on either a magnetic ballest to see if they actually will fire and then maybe and electronic ballast.

Can anyone help me?
I'm sure the guys at premium aquatics will work with me, I will need to let them know If I want to go with magnetic or some other type of electronic ballasts though.