trouble with pc lighting

[jreefer113]

i have a 4 x 65 current usa power compact fixture. one set of bulbs is coming on and the other comes on but flickers, like a strobe light. is the ballast bad? would i have to replace it or can i fix it somehow?

[jreefer113]

oh yea and the bulbs are brand new

[nzrqv7]

Yeah, sounds like a ballast. What model/brand of power compact lighting do you have? I had a very similar situation with my Aqualight Plus Deluxe Lunar series PC. It's a 48" model with two 65W 10,000K bulbs and 2 65W Actinic bulbs. One day only the Actinic bulbs came on. My PC fixture has internal ballasts, so I took apart the fixture and found the two ballasts. One is for the 10,000K bulbs and the other is for the Actinic. I switched the ballasts around and the 10,000K bulbs came on and the Actinics didn't so I knew it was the ballast.

I Googled the model number of the ballast to find a replacement. Much cheaper than buying a new fixture!

Good luck! :)