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175 WATT, 12K, Mogal base, MH light, is yellow instead of blue ?


ysanford

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I finally got around to building the skeleton for my hood and placed the metal halide lamps in. When I fired them up, all but one of my 175watts warmed up and turned blue. The other 175 is just yellow it was on for about 4 hours and never turned blue like the others. I was just wondering if anyone was familiar with this problem? Am I gonna have to buy another ballast or is it the bulb? I bought the ballast used here on ARC so a refund is probably out of the question.

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Metal Halides pass electricity though a series of gases to illuminate. It takes time for the temperature and pressure in the inner arc chamber to reach it's full capacity. If it does turn blue, the time it takes will most certainly lower over time. This is not too uncommon from what I've read about them, and personal experience. When I turn mine on, they stay yellow for about 2 minutes, then turn the right shade of purple/white. Not all Metal Halide bulbs are 100% what they're said to be, and none are exactly the same.

This being the case, it takes 100 hours of use for the color to be closer to 100% stable.

Edited by Little_Reef
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Yeah, but we have had the lights on for about 4 hours and it is still yellow. So I don't think it is an issue of warm up time; I wish it was.

Oops... I misread. I thought you said they DID turn blue like the others. Uhmm... I'd follow Cmanning's advice and see if that works for you. If not, see if you can exchange the bulb.

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Switch the bulbs w/each other and see if the problem follows the bulb. If the problem follows the bulb then its the bulb. But if it doesn't then its your ballast or capacitor.

;) I guess that would have been the first thing to do. lol We'll try that tomorrow since they're still a little warm.

If the light is yellow, what is the most common reason for that? Just for my own information in the future. Thanks!

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;) I guess that would have been the first thing to do. lol We'll try that tomorrow since they're still a little warm.

If the light is yellow, what is the most common reason for that? Just for my own information in the future. Thanks!

If your ballast are magnetic....you could probably open the box and check to see if the capacitor is fried; most likely you can replace the capacitor but, don't know how to tackle if it's an electronic ballast....though.

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If your ballast are magnetic....you could probably open the box and check to see if the capacitor is fried; most likely you can replace the capacitor but, don't know how to tackle if it's an electronic ballast....though.

cool thanks I will get on it tonight after work.

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I had a similar problem with my dual PFO ballast. I thought the bulbs where a problem. Robert helped me detemine it was indeed one of the capacitors. I contacted the person who sold them to me and he contacted PFO. A couple of days latter I received the cap. We installed it now everything is honkey dorey!

I said all this to say I agree with cmanning.

Let us know your finding. . .

Dave-

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When you change the bulbs out make sure you use a paper towel and don't touch the bulb directly. The oil from your hands can cause them to crack and or explode. If you knew this awesome, let's just say I didn't and things happened I wish didn't. If you have to get new bulbs I'm crazy for my phoenix 20k's.

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We had an issue w/our ballast and one of our light bulbs was not burning completely----it was not bright like the other and in my case.....it was too blue. We also switch the capacitors (that's after the bulb switching theory) just to make sure. And just as we suspected, the other side was not firing the bulb as it should. Good luck and keep us posted when you find out what was wrong w/your ballast.

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