HQI Ballast

[Poseidon]

I know ive had a few questions lately, but i figure if i have them, im sure someone else does to and maybe this will save them having to ask ;p


so this morning i went to a yard sale and saw a 250w metal halide light, with ballast and new bulb... looked very clean, and wasnt corroried at all!.... so i bought it... (along with other saltwater stuff.)....

it didnt have the cord to plug the ballast into the wall outlet with, but thats a simple computer cord which i had at home..
i also knew the guy so if it didnt work i could bring it back, imagine that... returns at a yard sale  :

anyways i get it home, and fire it up... she didnt work... wiggled the cord abit, got a flicker... then after a little bit of fooling around with it it fired up beautifully...

i turned it off and tried it again.... did the same thing... took a while of me fooling around to get it going....

anyways, what ive figured out is, if i plug it in, leave for for 5-10 min... it starts on it own... is this normal? shouldnt it fire up right away?
im testing this theory as we speak and it seems to consistanly fire up after 5-10 min of me plugging it in...

google has no answer, so i turn to you all....

thanks!

 

[partydiver]

When mine come on from the timer it flickers then takes a good minute or two to fully light

 

[TORX]

Pretty sure it is normal depending on your ballast. Mine does the same thing. Only the wait on initial start up is a few moments, but if it starts up, then I turn it off and back on, it takes 5-10 minutes to restart.

 

[Poseidon]

i guess theres all kinds of different ballasts eh?

this one is a Vue Tech?... i also mean that theres NOTHING comming from the pendant... like not flickering, not warming up, not til 8 mins... thats what the last couple times i tried it took.. ...  i have 3 250w above my main tank and when that timer flicks, they fire up instantly....

thanks for the input though...

 

[Blob-79]

This is totally normal brandon. Metal halides take some time to get to full brightness. If you turn the fixture off, then turn it on right away, the bulb will not fire. Its kind of a protection for the bulb I think. The ballast will wait 10 minutes or so for the bulb to cool down before firing it again.

 

[TORX]

This is totally normal brandon. Metal halides take some time to get to full brightness. If you turn the fixture off, then turn it on right away, the bulb will not fire. Its kind of a protection for the bulb I think. The ballast will wait 10 minutes or so for the bulb to cool down before firing it again.

Woohoo, I was right, see, I have learned a thing or two

 

[Poseidon]

haha, i still think you guys are missing what im trying to say

ok, so i take the metal halide light, which hasn't been on for 10 hours... plug it in... nothing happens...
i leave it plugged in for 8 minutes, THEN it finally starts....

its like turning on a light switch and waiting 5 minutes for the light to turn on..... it just doesn't feel right lol
sorry if im being confusing

 

[unibob]

Every warehouse I have ever been in that has had lights off for the night or whatever, when they go to turn them on....they take anywhere from 5-20min to come on. Its funny you will see them click on randomly, and get brighter and brighter and brighter.

 

[Victoss]

It's true that most metal halides have protection in them after they have been on for a while but as Brandon says his has  not been on yet but if I had to guess the manufacturer in this case was too lazy to include a "sensor" (be it temp or whatever) and instead just made it always delay upon start up.

This is just all theoretical though so who knows if i'm right 

 

[Royal Aquariums]

Yes this is normal for a Metal Halide fixture, they do take some time to warm up. If you turn them off and then try to turn them back on right away they will not work, until you wait for 5-10 minutes.

One time I installed a bunch of halide fixtures at work and this happened to me, I couldn't figure out for the life of me why they wouldn't turn back on right away. Lesson learned  :?

As far as the fixture only working when you wait for 5 minutes and you haven't turned it on yet. There could possibly be a loose connection inside in the switch or something. These ballasts are usually easy to take apart, if you have basic electrical knowledge you could do some tests with a multimeter.

 

[Poseidon]

i took it apart... the ballast...
no corrosion
clean as a whistle... only 3 years old....

it just take 5-10 minutes to turn on... lol... guess i can live with that...
as for an explanination... it could be anything...

but as long as its consitant, i will be useing it