Electrical - Room is hot - bulbs not firing

[HannaMan]

Ok, so...

The room has power, from the main panel, to the subpanel. The ballast has power, from the wall, to the ballast, and to the hood..

The bulb will attempt to fire once or twice, and remain unlit.

The ballast/bulb is not the problem, as it will fire off of an extension cord ran to another part of the house.

Any ideas?? It makes no sense.

I've checked the power coming out of the main, out of the sub, out of the ballast, and to the hood... its hot everywhere.

Please help.

 

[sedate]

The room has power, from the main panel, to the subpanel. The ballast has power, from the wall, to the ballast, and to the hood..

The bulb will attempt to fire once or twice, and remain unlit.

That happened to me once with a digital 600 - I disassembled the fixture, and reassembled it - and somehow it started working again.

Sort of seems like you might've done that already.

Wish I had something more useful to report . . .

 

[Midnight_son]

Is your stuff wired for 220V? If so, could be one leg of a double pole breaker has failed.

 

[DeRail]

Is your stuff wired for 220V? If so, could be one leg of a double pole breaker has failed.

I concur

 

[TrichromeFan]

Hannaman,
do you have a digital multi meter? That will be a big help. If so, you need to meter the voltage at the plug that your ballast plugs into. DO NOT TRY TO TEST THE BALLAST OUTPUT CABLE WITH THIS METER. YOU WILL GET A NASTY SHOCK. That said, you should be able to verify the voltage present at the plug supplying the ballast. You could even try measuring it under the load, meaning you have the plug slightly out, so you can touch the two metal contact sides of the plug through the gap. Again, be careful not to touch the conductors. This is 220, it is not nice to get shocked by. I suspect that the voltage is not wuite right, based on you description. If the voltage is not a proper 220v, then I would check at the breaker for good voltage, and go from there.

 

[Papa]

all good advice here HM. let us know what you find.








Papa

 

[cooper1]

My b e you just need a new bulb
or if theres a switch on you ballast dont keep it on 120% run it on 100 %for a year or so then the last couple months put the bulb up to 120 to get the last bang for you buck people run there bulb on 120% and fuck them up all the time not good for you bulb if yoou buy you gear a a local shop they will take it back and give you new one one the spot this happen to me before i didnt even buy my gear there but i spent a lot of money on other stuff then one night light out i ran down there he hook me up with a new ballast out the box

 

[Papa]

Ok, so...

The ballast/bulb is not the problem, as it will fire off of an extension cord ran to another part of the house.

My b e you just need a new bulb

suggestion: My b e read a thread before posting.



an HID ballast needs rated power in order to strike a lamp. the symptoms described are exactly what you would see of a ballast does not have full voltage available to it.
a number of possible causes can produce this condition, a breaker on one leg could be tripped, insufficient wire gauge, loose connection, etc.
first step in troubleshooting this is to do exactly what TrichromeFan suggests . . . get a voltage meter on that line. we're all betting it shows insufficient voltage when loaded.






Papa

 

[mrdizzle]

I actually could be a ballast, if he is using a digital, hard to guess kinda skimpy on the info, Im assuming everything has proper breaker and wire size

I had a lumatek pop a breaker, all the ballast would fire for a couple seconds then flip off. It was one ballast that causes it all, if your using digi's check the breaker on the ballast, if one is popped, thats your problem.

 

[HannaMan]

Hey everyone. I got it figured out. When we wired the conduit out of the sub panel and into the main, we stopped at a set of breakers. The breakers weren't showing signs of being bad, but once replaced everything lit up fine.

THanks for all the help everyone.