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help! should my sunpod take a while to warm up?


chieferich

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just bought a 150w hqi sunpod (current-usa) from marine depot. arrived today.

 

tried to turn it on and nothing....(leds do work though-but they are on seperate power)

bulb looks fine, fans turn on....i even left it plugged in/ left "on" for 20 minutes.

 

any ideas? do these need to warm up? i'm ###ed!

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I have the 20" 150W SunPod and when I first tried it, it started up fine. If I turn it off, however, I usually have to wait 20 minutes before it will turn back on. The fans will go and it will hum, but the light takes a while to kick in. I read somewhere that it takes more energy to turn on a hot MH than a cold one so you have to wait for the bulb to cool. That might explain my problem, but not yours. Let me know if your problem fixes itself. Also, one thing I noticed about my sunpod; some days the light looks blue, and other days it looks pink. Has anyone had experience with that? Is that what you guys were talking about with the break in period? Lets keep this thread going and try to hear what anyone else with a sunpod has to say. I'm a little worried since I don't know what I should be looking for. I also ordered from marine depot. I also want to mention that the serial number on my light fixture does not match that of the registration card...

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NanoMark yea it's normal for a MH to not fire up when hot...it needs to cool down before it will restart.

 

as far as the bulb changing colors well don't know about that...the "break in" is when the bulb will slowly change in color a little some bulbs are way blue at first but when the break in is done they are'nt as blue...HTH

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weird! i ran over to the kitchen cause i heard a scary buzzing sound and the bulb turned grey in the middle, then started to light a little.

 

now it's on ...man it's bright!

 

this sound noobish i know....but i have experience with single MH lighting.

 

never have i had to leave something on for 30 minutes before it would work-and then see arcing in the bulb like that.

 

now-it seems to be working....but should i be scared? worried? why did it take so long, and what was up with the buzzing and firing that almost looked like sparks? and why is the bulb grey in the middle like it's burned/ bad?

 

 

 

ahhhhhh! *insert angels singing*

 

IMG_01521.jpg

 

 

 

 

i guess all i ok? why the long wait to warm up? and why am i so paranoid? lol.

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I was thinking about buying this unit also. Are you still experiencing problems? I've read several threads about this same problem on reefcentral. I sent a few emails to Current-USA and the ballast engineer is looking into it for me. I'll keep you posted.

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I'm familiar with both the 150W reefsun and several MH grow lamps used in nursery's and gardens. I recently purchased a mogul based MH grow lamps on sale (250W) from a plant place. In both instances, I have never had to wait that long to get the light to run. You do hear a slight buzz when they come on but soon the buzz either went away or I got used to it as background noise. Normally, I may not be so concerned about the 30 min delay but because these things can put out so much light and often will become warm to the touch...I would be relatively concerned about a possible fire hazard or electrical issue. Not trying to worry you but I would definitely get in touch with someone at current USA.

 

Wow first they ship thier little skimmers with broken elbows (or they get broken during shipping), then they recall their aquapods due to electrical issues, and now there is an issue with their MH lights. 3 for 3

 

Cant say one can expect less than a working product when you spend good money for it...

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yeah so mine is having problems again. dhoffroad linked to my original post at RT.

it worked for a while and today it just doesn't want to turn on.

i've been emailing current usa but i haven't gotten a response back in almost 3 weeks now. what's up with that?

 

well finally i called current usa just now. they already shipped me my new ballast but never notified me.

well at least that's kinda good news. hopefully everything will be fine.

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Typical for MH. Most have a 20 minute cool down period before they will start up again. But that should not happen if it is starting fresh, only if it has been on, then turned off, then back on again.

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Are you having firing problems with this light turned upside down?? It wont light right if upside down. No problems with mine does go from light to way bright blue light in like 2 minutes and will not fire imeditly after shutting off. I think that is normal though.

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"wont light right if upside down".....well unless they put some type of "safty switch" inside the light WHICH I DOUBT, it should fire in any position if I were you I'd contact them (current) and ask if they do have some type of safty switch because if they dont then you may have a bad connection inside the light somewere.....

 

over on RT danskim said that current said that they are electronic ballasts, so if any of you here are experiencing a humming noise coming from your ballasts be careful and watch it because something is not right e-ballasts should be quiet..

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my sunpod turned on fairly quickly last night (within 10 minutes- I wa sout of the room so don't know exactly).

 

I emailed current on this issue. they more or less said not to worry.

 

I want to know why this is happening and if it truely is an issue.

 

I do not have a humming noise from ballast though.

 

I want to add this:

 

We are not talking about a warm start. cold start issue here....everyone knows it takes most any kind of MH a while to refire if it's been running.

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In the morning (cold start) my sunpod either fires immediately or takes about 10 minutes but it has never been anything longer than that. I'll let you know if it ever takes longer. Could the humming sound be from the cooling fans instead of the ballasts?

 

Also, if these lights have ballast problems, would it be possible that they are not producing as much light as they should be. I wrote earlier in this thread that some days my light looks more pink, other days more blue... could this be from a bad ballast? How would I know that my light is actually putting out 150W? I'm not sure how these lights work... could the light still be on but running less intense, or does MH work in such a way that it can only run at 150W?

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No. There is the fan sound, and there is a higher pitched, annoying buzzing sound from the ballast. I took off the right side and stuck my ear next to it.

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No. There is the fan sound, and there is a higher pitched, annoying buzzing sound from the ballast. I took off the right side and stuck my ear next to it.

 

I also have the buzzing sound from the ballast.

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I have emailed current again about this, reiterating this is not a warm firing problem.

 

my ballast is quiet. for those with a buzz sound-could be the fans. i do however have a very faint "whine". near silent though.

 

one thought i had was that with a new bulb, maybe the filament wire (whatever it's called) is more resistant, so it takes a little while longer. just an idea.

 

We'll get to the bottom of this with their help and keeping each other posted. Please log your firing times (how long it takes to turn on) each day. With a record, it may help to pinpoint the problem if it is indeed one.

 

mine starting from the day it arrived:

 

day 1- took about 45 minutes

day 2-almost immediately

day 3-about half an hour

day 4-within 10 mintues

day 5-fired immediately.

day 6- almost 20 minutes.

day 7-about 2 min.

day 8-immediately

day 9-

day 10-

 

seems to be working itself out.

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Mine has been firing immediately or within 10 minutes. I have a buzzing sound coming from my ballast that is definitely audible (not the fan). I will keep you posted on my firing times and if I ever get an email back from current. My question to you guys is how do we know if the light is actually running on 150W? Is it possible for us to have bad ballasts that aren't outputting the full wattage and really we lamps running on 13W? Can MH do this, or do the lamps only go on at 150 W? If they only go on at 150W then maybe the reason yours isn't firing is because your ballast isn't producing 150W? I wish I knew more about this. I'd hate to have a SunPod that turns on but isn't actually at 150W.

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no kidding. and i think they advertise that it puts out more than some 250 watters!

 

Current has a rock solid reputation when it comes to reliability and customer service. I am going to troubleshoot with them on this, and I know we'll find the solution.

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yea I'm sure they will take care of it but IMO it totaly sounds like they got a bad batch of ballasts....

 

1...e-ballasts are quiet there should not be any "humm"

 

2...the bulb should "fire" imediatly" when th bulb first fires it will take a very short ammount of time to "warm up" in that time the bulb will change color , from my experiences they will start off "yellow" then once warmed up go to the "color" that they are suposed to be...it they are telling you that it will take time for the bulb to fire (cold start) then they are full of it (sorry but that's the way I see it)

 

I don't know about the wattage issue as far as how low it can go and still fire a bulb but it will run on slightly diff watages...which in turn will change the color of the bulb.

 

good luck on this guys and hopefully nothing bad comes from the bad ballasts...

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* "1...e-ballasts are quiet there should not be any "humm"

 

2...the bulb should "fire" imediatly" when th bulb first fires it will take a very short ammount of time to "warm up" in that time the bulb will change color , from my experiences they will start off "yellow" then once warmed up go to the "color" that they are suposed to be..."

 

-this is my experience as well.

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I guess my previous post wasn't clear, but I meant to say there are two distinct sounds. One coming from the left, the fan and one coming from the right, the ballast. The ballast sound is higher pitched and annoying.

 

well i don't have any livestock which requires the light, i've been turning it on and off every now and then to check it.

 

day 1 - about 45 mins for me too

the next couple tries it was nearly immediate.

after keeping it unplugged and then plugging it back in, it took about 20-30 mins to turn on.

 

yesterday and the day before i was having problems with it turning on at all.

today it's fine after it finally fired yesterday and i haven't unplugged it yet.

it seems maybe the ballast holds a little charge and then loses it once unplugged. i have no idea but maybe something like that so that's why it has taken longer to fire up after i unplug it and replug it

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