Need HELP! - Metal Halide 250w

[darric]

My buddy got a 250w metal halide setup and when you turn it on- Nothing. How do you go about testing what's wrong? It has an electronic ballast if that means anything. I run PC and have no idea about MH.

 

[darric]

It doesn't glow at all. How can you tell if a bulb is no good? Again, no idea about MH.

 

[acrylic51]

Is he getting power to the ballast itself? Is the unit self contained meaning inside and enclosure or did he have to wire and assemble the unit himself?

 

[darric]

It's an odyssea with Two 250w 20K MH bulbs. It came preassembled. There is power between both sides of the socket, My voltmeter only measures up to 720v, so I know it has more than 720v.

 

[briand7878]

I had the exact same problem. I found out that my ballast was not compatible with the bulb. the bulb was a pulse start and the ballast was not. When i got the correct bulb it was perfect.

 

[darric]

The bulbs were wrong!