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Blennymower

Bulb Flickering

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I have 2 250 watt IceCap ballasts. One has a 14k hamilton and the other has a 12K Reeflux. By the way, both bulbs are almost identical to the eye.
I noticed that once in a blue moon my hamilton bulb would flicker (when I say flicker I mean a very fast and subtle flicker, one can only notice when paying close attention) but this would occur for about a minute and disappear for a long while. It actually doesn't happen anymore. On the Reefluc bulb, however, this flicker does not stop.

Any ideas of why this is?

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Updated 05-11-2010 at 02:15 PM by melev

Categories
Electrical , ‎ Lighting

Comments

  1. fchidsey's Avatar
    is it plugged into a controller or the wall on a timer?

    I have a coral-vue ballest that powers 2-250 w mh 20k bulbs and if i plug it into the power bank for the neptune ac3 controller one bulb will flicker then go out. but when i plug the ballest into the wall on a home depot timer it works fine.

    either that or you need to figure out what else is on that circuit there may be some "dirty" power like a pump or a bad ground some along those lines.
  2. melev's Avatar
    If you own a Kill-o-watt meter, plug the ballast into that, set it to watts, and turn it on. Watch the meter to see if the watts fluctuate or if they are steady, so you can rule out the ballast as the cause. It could be a bulb problem, or even a socket issue.
  3. agsansoo's Avatar
    Are these DE ? Mine do this just after a bulb change. I just take the bulb out and reset it back in the socket again.
  4. Blennymower's Avatar
    Thanks for the responses. The bulb is a SE and it is connected to an RKL in an 8 amp outlet. I'll try some of your suggestions to see if it helps any. Thanks.