MH lighting gurus. my 250W HQI's only pull 153W from the wall.

[miatawnt2b]

Plugged in my 250HQI to my kill-a-watt meter. It pulled 90W at startup and built to 153W. I am guessing I have the wrong ballast, but is there any way a 250W bulb will fire from a 150W electronic ballast?

-J

[miatawnt2b]

ok, a little searching pulled up this thread

250W lamp on 150W ballast (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=866795&referrerid=112003)

SO I guess it will indeed fire. so I guess I really do have the wrong ballast. Any other input would be appreciated.

-J

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Must be a 150w ballast, no way a 250HQI would only draw 90@ start-up and 153 full bore.
Or your meter is wacked.

Personally, I think you should shut that down until you get issue resolved.

[GSMguy]

my friend tested my ballast its a 250w m80hqi and it pulled 320w