Ugh... Metal halide went crazy

[Clint]

I was taking a nap and just before I went to sleep, my room became dark. My metal halide went out. It's a sunlight supply model with an Ushio lamp, so it's not shoddy craftsmanship. I've only had it since the fall and I run it 16 hours per day. It gets hot, but not THAT hot.

I cut it off and let it cool down a little. Once it's cooled down I'll try it and hope it's not the ballast. For some reason I have to let it cool ALL the way down, otherwise if I turn it off and waiit 10 minutes it won't arc properly. Weird. Anyways I was wondering if it just got too hot or what? I'd hate to think it was a crappy ballast that blew. Assuming it just overheated, will this damage the bulb?

EDIT: It's working fine now. I guess it just over heated?

 

[sdeering]

If your incoming power has a dip or flickers off and on real quick. The MH lamp will not relight untill a certain time lapses. It has something to do with the way it starts runs. They all do it. Well I'm not sure how the digital ballasts work but thats how the older ones are.
Could be what happened.

 

[Ozzy]

They have to cool all the way down before they start the process to relight. If it restarted normal and has been working fine since, it may be something wrong with your power supply. I don't know how you have it setup, just check all the connections to make sure they are tight. It could be something like a squirrel getting fried, a mile from your house caused a power spike. So it may not have anything wrong. If it does it again, send me a pm and we'll figure it out.

 

[Clint]

Lmao, a squirrel getting fried lmao.

It's been working fine ever since and I checked the connections. Damn squirrels

 

[xvart]

At least it didn't explode like some of your other setups!

xvart.

 

[Clint]

Oh God that would have been horrible... Ouch I dunno what would have been worse. Glass or the cauterizing heat.


Don't get one wet I remember years ago, on a reefer forum, a fish jumped, got the bulb wet, it exploded but only the glass. The arc tube was still in tact and working, and without the glass to shield the UV, it killed almost all of the coral in the tank (it was a REALLY nice tank, too ).

 

[abcat1993]

Why would the UV kill the coral, isn't it used to it? And, don't they burn out real quick if the glass explodes?

 

[Clint]

Too much UV is bad. Try looking into a UV sterilizer sometime.

They shouldn't burn at all if the glass explodes since the insides are delicate. That guy just had bad luck.