I have been playing around with lighting on the new 120 (zoas and softies, primarily). I bought some Iwasaki 15K's (175W) because it said they should fire on M57's. I got them to fire on one ballast, but not on two others (and assumed the fourth ballast would fire them because it is the same and as new as the one that fired the Iwasaki's-Bluewave and ~2yr old). Below is my recent experience. Any ideas?
I had a dual brand X 175W ballast that I was told was 10-15 years old when I bought it. It was running some older 15K XM's in a standard looking reflector set up (base mounts into a piece that mounts to the reflector). I tried running the 15K Iwasaki's on those ballasts in those fixtures and it would not fire them.
In the back, I had a Blue Wave 175W ballast (M57) running 12K Sunburst over the QT. The fixture is largely homemade. I bent some stainless steel plate and bolted a socket to it via an L brace. I tried one of the 15K Iwasakai's in it and they fired up immediately. I have another M57 ballast that i used to run (ballast has less than 2 years use). I figured I could put the Bluewave and ~2yr old M57 to the 120 and run the Iwasaki's. I rewired everything but left the fixture's mounted where they were. With the Bluewave and the ~2yr old M57 hooked into the reflector assemblies over the 120 (where the dual 10-15 year old ballasts were), neither ballast would fire the Iwasaki's and neither fires the XM's as bright as the 10-15 yr old ballasts did. Now, the 10-15 yr old ballasts are firing the 12K and it looks brighter.
My confusion... The Bluewave ran the Iwasaki's on the homemade reflector, but not on the manufactured reflector- the only difference being the socket. The dual ballasts (10-15 yr old) seem to be running the 12K brighter than the bluewave did (whiuch ran the Iwasaki's at one point). What is going on? I would at first think the sockets may not be stout enough of soemthign crazy like that, except the older ballasts are burning brighter than the other ballasts with both lights (even though they couldn't fire the Iwasaki's... Any ideas?
I had a dual brand X 175W ballast that I was told was 10-15 years old when I bought it. It was running some older 15K XM's in a standard looking reflector set up (base mounts into a piece that mounts to the reflector). I tried running the 15K Iwasaki's on those ballasts in those fixtures and it would not fire them.
In the back, I had a Blue Wave 175W ballast (M57) running 12K Sunburst over the QT. The fixture is largely homemade. I bent some stainless steel plate and bolted a socket to it via an L brace. I tried one of the 15K Iwasakai's in it and they fired up immediately. I have another M57 ballast that i used to run (ballast has less than 2 years use). I figured I could put the Bluewave and ~2yr old M57 to the 120 and run the Iwasaki's. I rewired everything but left the fixture's mounted where they were. With the Bluewave and the ~2yr old M57 hooked into the reflector assemblies over the 120 (where the dual 10-15 year old ballasts were), neither ballast would fire the Iwasaki's and neither fires the XM's as bright as the 10-15 yr old ballasts did. Now, the 10-15 yr old ballasts are firing the 12K and it looks brighter.
My confusion... The Bluewave ran the Iwasaki's on the homemade reflector, but not on the manufactured reflector- the only difference being the socket. The dual ballasts (10-15 yr old) seem to be running the 12K brighter than the bluewave did (whiuch ran the Iwasaki's at one point). What is going on? I would at first think the sockets may not be stout enough of soemthign crazy like that, except the older ballasts are burning brighter than the other ballasts with both lights (even though they couldn't fire the Iwasaki's... Any ideas?