250HPS not firing

[Deft]

So I got a econolight 250 hps and rigged it up in an ammo box and its been working fine for a week.

Yesterday it went to fire and the ballast made a loud noise, I noticed that there was no light coming out the top crack of my closet like it usually does.. When I looked inside it was just arcing across the bulb and there was almost no light coming off of it (arc was blue).

I unplugged it and plugged it back in after a few seconds and it fired up and lit, but today I tried the unplug trick but it took 10 times to get it lit and it made the awful noise when it first tried to start again and was arcing blue across the bulb but not lighting.

So, what could this be? And how can I fix it?

Here is a pic of my ballast and fixture I rigged up.

 

[greenisgold]

How old is it and how far is the ballast from the hood cord length wise? It could be the ignitor.

 

[Macster2]

yeah your igniter is fried

 

[Deft]

Cord length from ballast to lamp is quite far, I didn't know that would affect it but I guess I can see how it would be bad in terms of voltage. Can I get a new ignitor from home de-pot or any other brick and mortar stores?

Whats the max length the lamp cord should be?

 

[Deft]

Ohh and I just used a regular old heavy duty orange outdoor extension cord for the lamp cord, should I get something else or just shorten it to like 10' ?

 

[greenisgold]

Cord style depends on guage. I have used it before but I think the cord was 10 guage or something. Some ignitors will say it right on the ignitor itself like max length 15 ft.
Venture makes the best ignitors for around 25 bucks or so (online). Not sure you can get them at HD, maybe radio shack??
First I would make the cord length shorter and test.

 

[Deft]

Yea venture seems to be good for a lot of people for components/ballasts.
Hrrm. I guess I'll test it with a much shorter cord and read what the ignitor says on it in terms of gauge and length.

 

[Deft]

I shortened the cord down to ~10' and it fired up fine today rep for all!

 

[Deft]

It wouldn't fire up again today, How do I find the right igniter and will I need a new cap too?

 

[00420]

i think its the cap........ igys run for 1-2 milla sec's at 2300volts and only to start the bulb witch it is doing ( blue arc ) the cap hold's the charge to keep the lite on.... if the cap is not holding a charge then the lite wont fire.

 

[Deft]

The lite is firing though if i play with the supply of power (which might not be healthy for the equipment).

I figured out how to use the cap setting on my multimeter, the cap says on it that its supposed to have capacitance of 35 uF and the multimeter reads 39 uF so I think its working but I don't know for sure as I don't understand everything fully.

I'd think that the igniter was busted since it wont ignite but it gets power and arcs?

When its arcing it is constant like it thinks its ignited so it arcs continuously till I cut power which makes me think the cap is fine and the igniter is busted... Hrrm

I also don't think the cap could make the awful noise that it makes when it tries to ignite, but seems like a switch/relay whatever might??

and if the cap was busted it should not lite at all right? But it does if I mess with the power plug and get that to arc a little god forbid XD, could that be whats igniting it? The sudden jolt of power coming from the plug being inserted slowly with an allready charged cap?

 

[Deft]

Also I can charge the cap a little with the 9v battery and it slowly fades in voltage, it has a beefy looking resistor bridging the leads. Expert opinion would be awesome 00420 if you can make more sense of this with the info I found.

 

[Deft]

I popped open the igniter, there is a black cylinder thing the size of a resistor thats in parallel with a resistor that looks burnt out. The solder on each side looks like it was melted away from the connectors by extreme heat/current.

 

[00420]

I popped open the igniter, there is a black cylinder thing the size of a resistor thats in parallel with a resistor that looks burnt out. The solder on each side looks like it was melted away from the connectors by extreme heat/current.

i think you have your answer.....

i have had caps go bad and still light sometime's, and glow half power ect...

be happy it was not your ballast it self if you need to run the lite cord 15+ feet you can install the igy inline closer to the bulb....

if your cap is reading 39 and its a 35 its working fine....

 

[Guest]

Make damn sure you have a good ground. Lights will do this when the ballast is not properly grounded. And try to protect the igniter and cap best you can in the box. Heat is the enemy of both. Maybe put in a shield to help keep it from the heat of the transformer.

 

[Cabinet boy]

I had the same problem.The shop where i bought it was very kind,allowed me to check what is wrong.I put a new bulb in,and voila.It worked.But thats not the end.I put the old bulb into an OTHER same system and it was arcing blue like yours.So i say get a new bulb.