175 w MED MH lamps burning out

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Energy-Miser

Energy-Miser

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
Hi,
About a month ago we installed 24 Metal Halide 175 w (or maybe they were 150 watters, can't remember now) in a plaza, under the canapy over the walkway in front of stores. They are in recessed cans, and they are exposed. Shortly after installation a bunch of them started bruning out. So far we have replaced about half of them. There seems to be no obvious reason for this. Has anyone run into this type of problem before with metal halides? e/m
 
Wrong bulb?

I've recently found several Lithonia fixtures with the wrong bulbs in the factory package (MH bulbs in an HPS fixture).
 
with the Med base both 175 and 150 W MH's i know the 150 is pulse started and majorty of the older med 175 MH are probe start if you get interchange both of it you will destory the probe start device [ i did see it happend before ] check the ballast what number it is and also check if it have a pulse start capaitor in there as well. some of 150 /175 W MH have capaitor as well.

Merci, Marc
 
captaincrab55 said:
Check for Bad Splices where water may be in the wirenuts.. Are any of the ballast going bad too? I once had a problem with 10' light poles...
Click to expand...
Thanks, will probably end up pulling some down and check splices. All fixtures and lamps are brand new. The problem is they have been riveted into the soffet, making dismantling difficult. e/m
 
frenchelectrican said:
with the Med base both 175 and 150 W MH's i know the 150 is pulse started and majorty of the older med 175 MH are probe start if you get interchange both of it you will destory the probe start device [ i did see it happend before ] check the ballast what number it is and also check if it have a pulse start capaitor in there as well. some of 150 /175 W MH have capaitor as well.

Merci, Marc
Click to expand...
I will look for the paperwork, to see at least what they claim to have sent. e/m
 
Besides the possible electrical issues, I have experienced:

Wrong lamp in package

Wrong sticker on fixture

Bad batch of lamps


I hate the fact that every years the invent 10 new styles of lamps.
 
220/221 said:
Wrong lamp in package
Bad batch of lamps
Click to expand...

I would not be surprised if it were one of these. Bad lamps would be my guess. Could also be bad ballast putting out too much power. I am assuming the correct voltage is hooked to these units???
 
220/221 said:
Besides the possible electrical issues, I have experienced:

Wrong lamp in package

Wrong sticker on fixture

Bad batch of lamps


I hate the fact that every years the invent 10 new styles of lamps.
Click to expand...
Yeah, did not occur to me to double check all before install, I will know better now. e/m
 
Dennis Alwon said:
I would not be surprised if it were one of these. Bad lamps would be my guess. Could also be bad ballast putting out too much power. I am assuming the correct voltage is hooked to these units???
Click to expand...
Yes I am sure the guys checked the voltage and used the right tap. I don't know if the original batch of lamps sent with the fixtures may have been bad. We have replaced many, but not having been there at the time of replacements, I am not sure if the replacements are all being done only to the lamps from the original batch or not. e/m
 
We did a couple of office depots last year and at one of the stores Lithonia paid me to rewire every one of their fixtures - they were miswired at their factory in Mexico and the dimming ballasts along with the regular ballasts burned out in about 1/2 of them. I don't know if they are retooling, having growing pains, or moving more jobs South or what, never had a problem like that before. (Lithonia is a good company and great to work with, good pay too)
 
nakulak said:
We did a couple of office depots last year and at one of the stores Lithonia paid me to rewire every one of their fixtures - they were miswired at their factory in Mexico and the dimming ballasts along with the regular ballasts burned out in about 1/2 of them. I don't know if they are retooling, having growing pains, or moving more jobs South or what, never had a problem like that before. (Lithonia is a good company and great to work with, good pay too)
Click to expand...
Wow, that is incredible, half of the fixtures miswired right out of the box! e/m
 
EM,

You could check your 'fixture schedule' to see if 'pulse start and probe start'

of the same wattage were used on the job at different locations. If so, the

guys on the job seldom check more than 'watts' and 'type'. At least you

could do this without having to go to the jobsite.
 
what is the manufacturer of the lamps? Luma is a popular lamp for fixture manufacturers to send, and they are cheap...Venture is another...then some of them go to off brands....there is a place that advertises in the back of EC mag, called The Lightbulb Store....great prices on HID lamps...but he uses a chinese manufacturer and sells them under PulseRite lamps...they have about a 40% failure rate in the first 6 months...

before you drop fixtures, replace the lamps with a sylvania/ge/phillips and monitor them...i'm willing to bet that will resolve your issue.
 
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