hos sodium that doesnt fire.

i just recently bought a 430w argo max hps. tried it once and it worked perfectly. next attempt resulted in nothing more than a flicker. my ballast is a 400w digital lumatek. it was my first time using the ballast as well... not a good start. any guesses on whether its the bulb or the ballast? oh and one more clue: there are some burn like marks on the bulb. im hoping its the bulb, but why would it burnt out so quickly?

You're not trying to turn it on again just after you turned it off are you?

no, the 2nd time i turned it on was the day later. why? could i have blown the bulb if i had?

yes for sure, they require a cool down period my friend.

E.

Joshhack said:

no, the 2nd time i turned it on was the day later. why? could i have blown the bulb if i had?

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You wouldn't blow it but it would be flickering for about 6-7 seconds before it fires up which is bad
on the bulb.

You might have better luck asking this on an electrician forum.

http://www.electriciantalk.com/

make sure you have the bulb screwed all the way down as this can cause the same issue you're experiencing.. you don't want to over tighten it mind you but if it's not seated all the way, yeah, you can have issues..

i just bought another bulb, that way i'll know if its bulb or ballast. shipping is so expensive here, i'm not looking forward to sending anything back but ... live and learn.