Gallery of Lights
The Site => General discussion => Topic started by: Mercuryvapor123 on September 16, 2015, 06:40:56 PM
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What is wrong when my 1969, 175 watt mercury vapor M-250R starts flickering and the ballast sounds like a rapid fire machine gun?
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Power dip? Have you tried a different lamp? Is there a capacitor? If so perhaps it's failing? I'd start with checking the voltage (or plug in another street light on the same circuit and see if it also behaves the same way. If voltage is good or the other light (try to make it same ballast type but wattage or lamp type don't matter) doesn't flicker than it could be the lamp, dying capacitor, or maybe a poor neutral connection inside the fixture.
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Nope no voltage problems. It does have a cap. What it does is it will run for a good 10 minutes and then start raddling and flickering and after about 2 minutes of that it calms down a little. I'm running it at 120 v so the cap is not needed maybe I'll disconnect it and see what happens. It may just be ballast failure, it is from '69 and it is loud and cranky.
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The capacitor is just for making it HPF, not necessary? Yeah I'd try it with no cap. Have you tried a different lamp? using a shorting cap and not a PC (should make a difference but it helps to eliminate as many variables as possible). If it works fine and then acts up it sounds like a lamp or cap issue. I think if it was the ballast it would always act up.