MH ballast question

Ben Nicholls · 08-15-2004, 09:13 PM

I just got new 250W 10,000k XM bulbs a couple weeks ago. Both lit up fine, but one now look a little dimmer and noticeablygreener. I tried switching the bulbs around to see if it was the bulb or not, and the same side is still dimmer and greener. So I don't think it is the bulb. The AB bulbs I replaced looked the same on both sides. Any ideas what might be causing this? I am not sure what kind of ballast is in it, it is a DYI that came with the tank.

kjdeut · 08-15-2004, 11:27 PM

Is it an electronic or magnetic ballast? reason Im asking is becuase I have been reseaching 250w ballast for an upgrade and some electronics ballast said they work with all bulb types except the XMs.

Ken

Dwayne · 08-16-2004, 04:31 PM

In my case it was the bulb. I got 3 250w 10K XM bulbs and it took a month for them to all "burn in" and look the same color.

Ben Nicholls · 08-16-2004, 06:06 PM

I believe the ballast is magnetic. Hopefully they will "burn in" and go back to the same color (as long as both don't go green). These will be my third set of 10,000k bulbs. I've used Ushio, AB, and this year I decided to try XM. I think the AB's gave the best initial color, but it is hard to compare when in each case it has been a year apart.

Ben Nicholls · 09-03-2004, 01:33 PM

I replaced the ballasts with some electronic ones from EVC and that fixed the bulb color. I decided since I needed to replace one, I might as well do both. They look like really nice ballast and at $99 each, not a bad price. You can see the details on them at the link below (this is where I got them from). I went with EVC for two reasons. One, they came wired and in a case for less then most others. Two, they did not say they did not work with XM bulbs (which many do). So far so good. The bulbs are burning with good color and intensity, and the ballasts are a lot cooler then the old magnetic ones.

http://oceanencounter.com/Merchant2/...ory_Code=EVCEB

So, If anyone would like my old ballasts, make an offer. One of the two is good, the other one had no problems with the AB bulb, but does not like XM's. They are magnetic 250w ballasts from "Advanced".

Twins Guy · 09-03-2004, 11:02 PM

crud-wish i had seen this earlier ben-xm had an issue with a batch of bulbs (spec 250W SE 10K IIRC) that turned green. also instead of the black burnt in appearance near the base of the bulb these bulbs looked milky opaque. you might look into this (saw a post at RC) as they were replacing the defective bulbs free.
tg

Ben Nicholls · 09-04-2004, 12:05 PM

I emailed hellolights right after it started to burn green and the first thing they asked was what color the base was. No milky white for me. These have a nice silvery black. They also had me switch the bulbs around to see if the bulb would be green hooked to the other ballast. When I did that, the other bulb was the green one. So that is why I decided to replace the ballasts. Both bulbs are burning great now.