Help Electricians! Bad Metal Halide Bulb?

[Jagermeister]

For lighting I'm running four 250w mh 14k Phoenix bulbs off of Icecap ballasts. I recently just replaced all the bulbs.

All ballasts are plugged into a dedicated circuit and controlled by a GE inwall digital timer. I believe the digital timer has a built in 15A breaker. This setup has been working problem free for the last 18 or so months.

So the problem. Ever since the bulb change, one of the bulbs upon startup makes a hissing, popping, crackling noise. Then it's fine and it looks fine and seems to operate well.

Everything was going well for about a month after the bulb change and then I came home two days ago to all the lights off. Went and checked the digital timer and it said 'off'. Hit the 'on' switch and everything came right on and stayed on. I was very confused as to how it could have gotten turned 'off'.

As luck would have it I was watching the tank just today when I heard a weird buzzing noise all of a sudden come from one the trouble bulb and then all the lights went out. Went back to the digital timer and it was 'off' again. So something may be causing the internal breaker to trip and turn the unit 'off'? Hit the 'on' switch and after the 10 minute or so ballast timeout all the lights came back on, with that one bulb crackling again. The lights have been on a couple of hours now again with no problems.

Has anyone had this type of problem before? Does it sound like the bulb? I checked the ballast and can really see nothing wrong with it. Can a bulb be bad, have a short in it or something, and trip breakers?

Thanks for any insight and help.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Sounds like the bulb may have an internal short. I would contact the supplier of the bulb.