IS my ballast bad??? HELP

150w MH light doesnt come on, when I touch the bulb it flickers and tries to come on. I can see it and hear it, Is it my ballast, the bulb is about 3 months old only. Thanks.

 

Given the bulb's age I would say that most likely it is the ballast. If you have another bulb I would check it just to confirm.

 

yeah i suspect it to be the ballast too based on that. I dont have another bulb right now. heres the crossroad I now face...buy a bulb or buy a ballast...

 

is it a DE 150w bulb? i have a used phoenix bulb sitting here that works, enough to test with ( its why i saved it) its been used a year but lights up fine, I'm sure its color spectrum is no longer good, since a year is it for most bulbs color spectrum. your welcome to have it to test with, if you pay the shipping to you.

also here is a thought, have you wiggled the bulb to be sure its making good contact? and looked at the contacts to be sure they are clean?

 

Yeah, if you touch the bulb and it "tries to come on", I would probably suspect a bad socket over a bulb or ballast. You can get a new one and rewire it, if that's the case, and it dosn't just need a cleaning. I guess depending on how handy you are with soldering anyways...

 

I am sure i am way late with a helping hand.. but check the wiring in the socket it self.. I had a old 250 wattmh and new bulb and a 3 yr old ballast had the same problem till i took the socket apart that the bulb screwd in and respiced or reconnected new or clean connections and worked just fine..

Best of luck