well different lamps start differently too... mh tends to gradually brighten in intensity while hps will glow dimly for awhile then ignite quite rapidly
man the biggest factor that effects the length of lamp startup is temperature. the higher the ambient temp the quicker the lamp comes on. also the newer the ballast the faster the lamp will ignite. you should see a small glow almost instantly, on either mh or hps. usually with temps in the room temperature range you can expect to have full lamp ignition in no longer than 90secs
Great news and bad news....
THe great news is that for one of the units, I was able to open up the top and switch over that wiring connection so that the 120V wire is now on the 'Hot'. I plugged it in, and you were right, it lit right up instantly and then after about 30 seconds grew in intensity pretty fast.
The bad news....the other units I have, when I opened up the top don't have any other wires other than the 277V one that's connected to the 'Hot' atm.
I can see down into the unit housing, and I can see some other wires, but it's kind of difficult to grab them and I don't want to mess anything up inside. Also, these other lights, don't actually have anything written on the outside as far as specs go. They have a label, but everything is blank on them.
Any suggestions for what I should do with these other lights? Assuming I can....
I guess I could somehow change and adapt them to be like the other light so that they will work on a 120V outlet?
Or I could hire an electrician to come in and add a 277V outlet? How much do you think that would run and would you advise it?