I Hate My......

[trillyen]

Ok today i bought a reef fanatic 250 watt metal Halide ballast for a what i thought was a steal!!! 20 bucks
At a kind of reef store garage sale.
It doesnt want to fire up my metal halide that i ALSO got from there ( 250 watt) 12000k coralvue (15 bucks)
its a electronic ballast
the bulb flickers on and off but dosent fully light up, just looks like its on fire for a second then it goes out!!!
the ballast has a wire thats just ALL wire NO COLOR on it, a red wire, and a blue wire
my wires off of my socket have a white, and black, and green wire set up.
i tried every scenerio i could, but nothing just the on off flicker of it looking like it wants to fire up but dosent
i dont think its the bulb
I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WOULD SELL A BALLAST THAT THEY KNOW DOSENT WORK
I was at work all day excited waiting to see and wondering what both sides of my tank would look like lighted up instead of just the 1, excited to go home and hook up my new WORKING ballast
I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WOULD SELL SOMETHING KNOWING IT DOSENT WORK
i dont care if it was 5 dollars and they knew it didnt work, thats 5 dollars i could put towards the purchase of a brand new ballast, or a good working used 1.

 

[lazypinoy]

i guess you get what u paid for.

 

[autofreak44]

that sucks... try leaving it on for a while, my old PCs wouldnt fire up for the first day but the second day they were fine
also if you arent that electronic-savy have an electrician or the company you bought it from look at it...
Dallas

 

[trillyen]

thanks but im kinda scard to leave it on for too long i dont want it to blow out my bulb
or the bulb blow out my ballast
how did you know to leave the ballast on for your lights
did they fire at all???

 

[reefforbrains]

not all ballasts are the same, there are several different kinds of MH bulbs so some ballasts can handle more than one type while other ballasts are specific to a particular configuration.
Just snoop around google for all numbers and info you have from the ballasts power box and see what it gives you.
The fact it fires it at all is a good sign that the ballast should be in working order. It just might be looking for a different bulb.

 

[trillyen]

thanks reef for brains
i have a coralvue in that actual socket now and on a different ballast and socket i have a reefflux 12 k there would be no since in switching them out would it
Do you think i should leave it on for a while and see if it will eventually FIRE
will it or might it work that way?????
thanks alot man!!!

 

[reefforbrains]

No. Odds are it will blow the bulb trying it that way. If it doesnt fire within approx 10 seconds then it most likley will only damage the bulb. The way the bulb/ballast configuration works is not somthing "they get used to one another with time". They either function great or not right from the start.
Sorry if I sound like a broken record but I do think a trip to sniff through google for what the manufacture suggests for bulb type will eliminate all problems once you have apples plugged into apples.
Good luck.
-RFB

 

[trillyen]

Thanks im just gonna live with the fact that its not gonna work
just know that come monday morning that my lfs is gonna get a rude awakining

 

[bronco300]

how long did you let it run for?