Help on IceCap 400W MH ballast, possibly wiring..

bcarleton · 04/02/2010, 03:18 PM

Hey guys, This one may be for an IceCap rep to answer, but being late friday I am going to shoot this out here to see what y'all think. Will try IceCap monday if needed. I am normally not home in the middle of the day to see my tank lit at its fullest. Today I happened to be and noticed that one of the two 400W bulbs was not putting out like the other. Both bulbs are brand new and put in on the same day. Now, one ballast is older than the other by about 2 years. It is the older ballast that is not producing at full capability. I treid to look at the bulbs to see if both were burning good. BTW, that was like looking inot the sun! The bulb on the new ballast was fully lit. The bulb on the old ballast was slightly flickering. If you looked into the little burn bulb inside the MH bulb, you could see it go down to just an arc for a second then come back up. Kinda like when the bulb just starts to fire up. I am going to do the easy thing first, swap bulbs from one fixture to the other. I am also looking at running a fresh power cord from the ballast to the fixture. Its an older retro kit that just has spade connectors for disconnect. Never have liked that setup. Beyond that, any ideas?

04/02/2010, 03:18 PM	#1
bcarleton Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 10	Help on IceCap 400W MH ballast, possibly wiring.. Hey guys, This one may be for an IceCap rep to answer, but being late friday I am going to shoot this out here to see what y'all think. Will try IceCap monday if needed. I am normally not home in the middle of the day to see my tank lit at its fullest. Today I happened to be and noticed that one of the two 400W bulbs was not putting out like the other. Both bulbs are brand new and put in on the same day. Now, one ballast is older than the other by about 2 years. It is the older ballast that is not producing at full capability. I treid to look at the bulbs to see if both were burning good. BTW, that was like looking inot the sun! The bulb on the new ballast was fully lit. The bulb on the old ballast was slightly flickering. If you looked into the little burn bulb inside the MH bulb, you could see it go down to just an arc for a second then come back up. Kinda like when the bulb just starts to fire up. I am going to do the easy thing first, swap bulbs from one fixture to the other. I am also looking at running a fresh power cord from the ballast to the fixture. Its an older retro kit that just has spade connectors for disconnect. Never have liked that setup. Beyond that, any ideas?