Here is the story: I've got 2 65 watt Fluorex bulbs made by Lights of America and a GE 432 Max/N ballast. Per the following thread from this board -
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=12909
- I wired up the bulbs to the ballast. My problem is that the lights will not start reliably. The bulbs usually just glow VERY faintly. I noticed that if I touched the bulds, the glow increased slightly. I did some research on the internet and came across several references to the necessity of having a ground metal reflector within 1" of the bulb in some cases. Just as an experiment, I tried a piece of aluminium foil with a ground wire attached. If the foil is wrapped around the bulb it will start. Encouraged, I got a piece of aluminium flashing and fashioned two reflectors and soldered a ground wire to each. Unfortunately, these do NOT work. They bulbs will only start if I have foil wrapped around at least 3/4 of the bulb. The foil has to almost surround the bulb and has to extremely close to the bulb (less than a quarter of an inch). Even if I put the aluminium flashing reflectors right on the bulb, it won't start unless the flashing completely surrounds the bulb. From what I saw in the above post, Electrobes didn't even use a grounded reflector. Anyone have any ideas what might be going on here?
Further details on my setup: Per the post by Electrobes, I opened the bulbs and by-passed the starter (removed it, soldered wires together). The ballast as 2 red wires, 2 blue wires and a yellow wire with each of those pair. So, I hooked 2 reds, 1 yellow to one bulb and 2 blues, 1 yellow to the other.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=12909
- I wired up the bulbs to the ballast. My problem is that the lights will not start reliably. The bulbs usually just glow VERY faintly. I noticed that if I touched the bulds, the glow increased slightly. I did some research on the internet and came across several references to the necessity of having a ground metal reflector within 1" of the bulb in some cases. Just as an experiment, I tried a piece of aluminium foil with a ground wire attached. If the foil is wrapped around the bulb it will start. Encouraged, I got a piece of aluminium flashing and fashioned two reflectors and soldered a ground wire to each. Unfortunately, these do NOT work. They bulbs will only start if I have foil wrapped around at least 3/4 of the bulb. The foil has to almost surround the bulb and has to extremely close to the bulb (less than a quarter of an inch). Even if I put the aluminium flashing reflectors right on the bulb, it won't start unless the flashing completely surrounds the bulb. From what I saw in the above post, Electrobes didn't even use a grounded reflector. Anyone have any ideas what might be going on here?
Further details on my setup: Per the post by Electrobes, I opened the bulbs and by-passed the starter (removed it, soldered wires together). The ballast as 2 red wires, 2 blue wires and a yellow wire with each of those pair. So, I hooked 2 reds, 1 yellow to one bulb and 2 blues, 1 yellow to the other.