is it the ballast or bulb?

[pbienkiewi]

I just replaced four 130watt bulbs Sunday. Today when I just got home one of my actinics was flickering. So I turned my actinics off and restateded them to have the bulb blow. I am thinking most likely the ballast needs to be replaced. What are the chances of the bulb being bad. I guess I can use one of the old actinics bulbs to see if the same thing happens. This ever happen to anyone?

 

[scsinet]

Manufacturer defects do happen, so I'd definitely try swapping in your old lamps and see if the problem follows the lamps or the fixture.

 

[pbienkiewi]

As usual I forgot to mention this. I replaced my bulbs because the same bulb was blown out.
The question now again is it the bulb or ballast?

 

[scsinet]

Define "blown"

 

[pbienkiewi]

my definition is as followed, Blown out - A bulb that is plugged in but not emitting light.
Before I replaced all four bulbs ( 10 months of use) three of them were working and one light bulb was not emitting any light. I replaced all bulbs on Sunday then come Wednesday the bulb in the same position as the one that was out is not working. Every now and then the bulb would flicker.
Any ideas would be great.

 

[scsinet]

Okay well what I meant was did something dramatic happen... such as a bright flash then nothing, or was it just not alight.
"blown" tends to suggest that something happened that was more dramtic that might lend some insight....
Ballasts usually don't fail in such a way that would make the lamps fail prematurely. I suppose it could happen though...
Honestly I'm not going to be much help. I'm inclined to say replace the ballast, but I don't want you to go through that then find that the ballast wasn't the problem. There is no easy way to test for the viability of a ballast, so I'm kind of stuck.
That said... if multiple lamps are failing prematurely, then the ballast is a likely culprit... especially if it's always the same socket and the other lamps are working normally.

 

[fatboyjoe]

I have an orbit 4/130 watt. p.c. fixture. I've had that same thing happen to me 4 times in 3 years, I replaced 4 blown ballasts so far. I quess they use cheep ballasts or something. what sucks is "current" is the only one who makes 130 watt ballasts. so you can't replace them with better ones. and their $40.00 each to boot. one good thing, there not hard to replace. also, my first one was free because it was under warrenty. good luck