MH bulb taking a while to fire 30 seconds

[mscarpena]

I just bought these bulbs about 3 months ago and one is taking 30 seconds to fire up some times. Sometimes it fires right away, but sometimes it takes awhile. I have an electronic ballast. What do you guys think bad bulb, bad ballast, or not a big deal becuase it still works just fine?? Thanks.

 

[jackri]

Mine take about that long to fire up... sometimes less but they need to warm up. Mine buzz and slowly come around to full strength... hope that helps.

 

[mscarpena]

I know they take a while to fully light up. The 30 seconds or so is before they even start to fire up or warm up. The 30 second delay is before they even click on and start. Thanks.

 

[spanko]

Can't say for sure but 30 seconds before they even click sounds like a ballast to me. Maybe PM SCSInet. He is the guy in the know when it comes to things like that.

 

[scsinet]

The reason why this is likely happening is because you are using pulse start lamps such as Ushio, Radium, Sunburst, etc in your system. These lamps take a bit more kick to get them going - especially when the lamps are new.
I wouldn't sweat it. When I switched from Probe Start XM lamps to Pulse Start Radium lamps, I had the same issues. One of my (3) lamps always took varying amounts of time to light. Sometimes it was the first strike attempt, sometimes it would take 20 minutes. No matter which socket I put this one particular lamp in, it did the same thing. Now it always strikes the moment power is applied. After the lamps break in a bit, they will probably strike the arc much quicker.

 

[mscarpena]

Wierd, but I like your anwser. I am glad it's not the ballast. I am using and electronic 175 watt ballast with 2 21K reeflux bulbs if that helps. Thanks for your help.