MH bulb question

[blennymower]

I have a coralife fixture that carries 250 watt 10,000 K mogul base MH bulbs with magnetic ballasts. It's not yet time to replace the bulbs but I've become concerned that when it comes time to replace them I might the wrong ones.

I've seen Ushios, XMs, and radium mogul bases bulbs. Are these different types or just brand names? Will any work on my fixture?

I don't know what type of starters my ballasts have. It doesnt say in the ballasts.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[blennymower]

bump

[DarG]

OK, I am almost positive that the Coralife mogul fixtures use probe start ballasts and the coralife mogul bulbs are probe start. A probe start bulb has a built in ignitor in the bulb itself. The Pulse start bulbs, which most of the high quality 250 watt mogul bulbs are, rely on the ignitor in the magentic ballast. So a probe start ballast may fire a pulse start bulb when it is newer but it probably wont when the bulbs gets some use on it. Plus it will underdrive the bulb, often by a larger margin,

So the bottom line is that you really need to replace the coralife bulbs with another probe start type of bulb. That leaves the radium out. I believe that Hamilton has some probe start bulbs in 250 watt but not positive. There are some options, you just have to make sure the bulbs are probe start. Probe start is older technology. I believe that the Hamilton bulbs may be probe start, the XM's are I believe, the coralvue bulbs including reeflux are probe start eventhough Coralvue recommends electronic ballasts or pulse start. I think even the Ushio 10K is a probe start (not the 14 or 20K). I think that most of the cheap 250 watt mogul base bulbs on ebay are probe start as well.

But all this assumes alot. It's from my memory which isnt always the best. If you can find an ANSI code on the ballast, it would tell your for sure whether it is probe start. M58 would be the code for probe start ballast. So basically, find a bulb specd for M58 ballast.

Your other option is to get rid of the stock ballasts and wire the sockets up with electronic ballasts if you are handy at all with wiring. That would allow you to use any 250 watt bulb. The ballast are anywhere from 70 bucks to 150 bucks or more depending on brand.
Personally, thats what I would do but Im kinda handy with wiring.

Otherwise, again assuming that it is a probe start ballast and Im pretty sure it is, you do have some options. You just have to be selective.

[Entropy]

You fixture will accept any 250w single ended (Mogul) bulb so you have a lot of options, but you have to match the bulb to the ballast. Since you have the time, the most important thing to figure out is what kind of magnetic ballast you have. Does it have a model number or part number on it?

[blennymower]

Ok, this is everything that the ballast says

Elite Series
250 Watt
Aqualight
AF250WSPC
120V
60Hz
2.5A

[DarG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15051637#post15051637 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blennymower
Ok, this is everything that the ballast says

Elite Series
250 Watt
Aqualight
AF250WSPC
120V
60Hz
2.5A


Ok, is that on the ballast case or the actual ballast (coil/transformer) inside the case? Im assuming that the ballasts are external in a housing/case. Or are they internal inside the fixture?

Alternatively ... if you take a picture of the bulb, I could tell if it is probe start from looking at it. If it is a probe start bulb and a magnetic ballast, it's almost certian its a probe start ballast.

[blennymower]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15051698#post15051698 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DarG
Ok, is that on the ballast case or the actual ballast (coil/transformer) inside the case? Im assuming that the ballasts are external in a housing/case. Or are they internal inside the fixture?

Alternatively ... if you take a picture of the bulb, I could tell if it is probe start from looking at it. If it is a probe start bulb and a magnetic ballast, it's almost certian its a probe start ballast.


That's what it says on the ballast.


This is what the bulbs look like

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/juicytheatomic/Picture.jpg

[DarG]

OK ... it's a probe start bulb. The little black tube that looks kinda like a black fuse before the arc tube is the ignitor. If the bulb had an ignitor built in, it's a probe start bulb.

So ... replace with any probe start 250 watt halide lamp which would be a halide lamp spec'd for an M58 ballast. So XM, Hamilton, Coralvue for example are all possible options ... double check to make sure they are probe start cause these are off the top of my head. There should be a few others and probably most of the cheaper generics like Plusrite that get sold alot on ebay. But again, make sure they are probe start lamps.

Or ... if you are handy with wiring at all and have a few extra bucks to spend ... replace the stock ballasts with electronic ballasts and you can run any 250 watt mogul base halide lamp. Easy DIY if you have some pretty basic wiring knowledge.

[blennymower]

Thanks man. I'm no electrician, neither do I have experience to be tinkering with ballasts, so for now I'll just buy the bulbs lol. Maybe when the ballasts start going bad I will. Thanks a lot.


If anyone has suggestions for really good probe start MH bulbs it will be helpful.

Thank you.

[blennymower]

Another question....


Can I buy anybulb with a built in igniter??


Is pulse start the same as probe start?

[DarG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15057745#post15057745 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blennymower
Another question....


Can I buy anybulb with a built in igniter??


Is pulse start the same as probe start?

Pulse start does NOT have the ignitor inside the lamp. The pulse start ballast has it's own ignitor.

The Probe start ballast does not have an ignitor because it is in the bulb. Thats why you need to stick with probe start bulbs when you are using a probe start ballast.

So a bulb with a built in ignitor is a Probe start bulb. AB has a probe start bulb that is recommended for a pulse start ballast. Reeflux bulbs are probe start but coralvue claims they should be run on electronic (or pulse start). I wouldnt buy the AB but the Reeflux are probably fine on the probe start ballast that you have. In fact, I have run them on probe start with no issues.

So any probe start 250 watt bulb except for the AB should be fine. And yes, that would be any lamp with built in ignitor ... because that IS a probe start lamp. Y0u do need to stay with 250 watt bulbs though.

[Entropy]

You have some of options.

Ushio 10k
XM 10k
XM 15k
XM 20K
Iwasaki 6500k (kick butt bulb, but yellow)
Coralife 10k
Venture 10k

I am pretty sure these are all probe start.