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IC Ballast Help (1 Viewer)

Home_Depot

Home_Depot

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Feb 24, 2007
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Bemidji
I just bought a new IC Ballast and when I hook it up (run through my reefkeeper) it works for a few seconds 5-10 then it shuts off the whole RK and the leds on the rk go from 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 then it starts up again and will work for a few seconds again and does what it did the first time??
Any Thoughts?
 
Are you overloading the circuit? Does it work if you just plug it into a different outlet?
 
I had an older IC Ballast hooked up in the same spot I just replaced it with a new one.
I don't think it would matter but it is a 250w MH ballast.

it may have been a bad connection I took it back a part and re did it and it has worked for about 10 min. so it might have just been that

I don't have a GFI plug close I am going to run a seperate circut as soon as the weather gets nicer(no snow)
 
Err ummm, what is it plugged into now? You don't need to replace the circuit or add a new one, you need to replace the outlet to a GFCI outlet. I would do this ASAP. Especially since you are having an electrical quirk at the moment.

You don't want your bad connection to turn into a fire.
 
Likely electrical interference. Have you tried running the ballast just from a regular plug. Likely will need to get an expansion module to run the ballast from.
 
hypertech said:
Err ummm, what is it plugged into now? You don't need to replace the circuit or add a new one, you need to replace the outlet to a GFCI outlet. I would do this ASAP. Especially since you are having an electrical quirk at the moment.

You don't want your bad connection to turn into a fire.
Click to expand...


I have to run a new circuit because I live in a double wide and they wire most of the outlets on one side to one breaker and when ever my wife plugs in the vacum cleaner it blows the breaker in the panel so I am just going to do a separate one for the tank.I have it pluged into the RK. I am not going to run it till I can get the hooked up right.
 
David Grigor said:
Likely electrical interference. Have you tried running the ballast just from a regular plug. Likely will need to get an expansion module to run the ballast from.
Click to expand...

How come it would not work with what I have now? I had a IC 250w MH ballast on there I think it was going bad so I bought a new style IC 250w MH ballast. I would think they should draw the same watts as the older one right?
 
OK thought I had it fixed but i guess not Getting very frustrated:mad_3: It works one time and not the next.. I am going to get an extention cord and run it to a GFI and see what happens.
 
Home_Depot said:
How come it would not work with what I have now? I had a IC 250w MH ballast on there I think it was going bad so I bought a new style IC 250w MH ballast. I would think they should draw the same watts as the older one right?
Click to expand...

Why did you think the first one was going bad?
 
The light would go form nice and white(crisp) to yellow looking and back to white all the time. I could see it in the tank. Plus some times it would not work at all
 
so, kinda like what it is doing now? Have you tried a different bulb?
 
Home_Depot said:
How come it would not work with what I have now? I had a IC 250w MH ballast on there I think it was going bad so I bought a new style IC 250w MH ballast. I would think they should draw the same watts as the older one right?
Click to expand...

Because the newer IC is a totally different design. Has nothing to do with amps/current. It has to do with electrical noise on the line generated by the ballast. There are a number of ballasts that pose problems with the RK original unit.

Need to try it totally dependant of the RK and best if on a different circuit altogether to identify if the ballast is okay. Likely fine.

RK makes a expansion module runs about $40 that you plug the ballast into that shoud resolve.
 
Trying to be slightly more scientific, also wait several minutes before trying to refire the ballast after each test:

1. ReefKeeper DC8 into the Wall: Not working
2. Without ReefKeeper DC8 into the same Wall Plug: ____________
3. A completely different outlet on a different circuit without DC8: _______________
 
I have not tried a differant bulb I had just bought these bulbs from Dirk about 2 months ago. Would the bulb make the RK trip the reset or just the spectrum of the light?
 
FastFish720 said:
Trying to be slightly more scientific, also wait several minutes before trying to refire the ballast after each test:

1. ReefKeeper DC8 into the Wall: Not working
2. Without ReefKeeper DC8 into the same Wall Plug: ____________
3. A completely different outlet on a different circuit without DC8: _______________
Click to expand...

I had an old IC ballast ran through my RK and it was not working right so I bought a new style IC and when I pluged it in to the same outlet as the old one it would work for about 10 sec. them it was like it was to much power and triped the reset on the RK.

I am not sure what DC8 is but I am assuming it is the 8 outlets that I can plug stuff into from the RK

I do wait about 10 mins or so before I try again. What I did now is ran a extention cord to a GFI outlet and it has been working for about 10 min. without and issues so I might just have to get a timer and put it on the new ballast?
 
The work around for devices ( ie: your ballast ) that create electrical noise is to buy the expansion module ( about $40 ). Your RK would then still control it.

The newer RK units and other controllers are a little better with dealing with electrical noise. That is one of the main issues/complaints with the first generation RK unit.

I had the same problem with an electronic T5 ballast on a RK. Behaved the exact same way you describe.
 
OK I guess I will sell this one and buy a RK2...YES just in time with the rebate check comming!!!
 
Definately should check the DA sponsor forum on reef central and make sure there aren't any known issues with this ballast and the RK2. If you don't find any hits via a search, I'd send a quick email to confirm BEFORE buying the RK2. With the AC Jrs. being cheaper and more functionality, I'd seriously consider it over a RK2.
 
You might still be able to get in on Fritz's order with discount pricing.
 
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