ATI T5 are they supposed to all be dimmable?

[A;exr54]

I recently got a aquaticlife dx18 hybrid fixture.
The dimmable one that can connect to variable speed ports in an apex.

I have a couple radions and this was to to add t5 supplemental lights.
I got 2 blue plus and 2 true actinic.

Ran all the T5’s for a bit over 50 hours. Then plugged in the variable port after the programming on the apex was done.

Noticed the blue plus was working fine. Dimming fine.
However the actinic wouldn’t even turn on.

Is this normal? Can I not dim the actinic bulbs?

 

[Nanojoe]

Hmm, well for starters, dimming T5s will shorten the lamps life and reduce spectrum overall. Not a huge deal if you are good about swapping them out. In turn you have radions and could just ramp those which im sure you already do.
You should be able to dim actinic lamps. Possible you got dud lamps too.

 

[Midrats]

Maybe a bad lamp. It happened to me once with a B+. Dimming doesn't shorten the life of T5s unless you don't season them properly.

 

[A;exr54]

Maybe a bad lamp. It happened to me once with a B+. Dimming doesn't shorten the life of T5s unless you don't season them properly.

Thanks!
Yup i burned them in 50 hours before dimming.
For now i turned off dimming. And all the sudden my outer bulbs arent turning on.

If its not one thing its the other.

 

[A;exr54]

Just curious if getting dud t5's are like a regular thing?
So far I have 2 actinic that wont dim.
And one blue plus went dead after about 70hrs.

I like dimming them. I understand its not for everyone. But that's why I got the dimmable fixture.
I like to ramp up/down all the lights, T5's and LEDs. And I also have the lunar sim module for apex which dims based on moon cycles.

 

[SPS2020]

I've had a number of T5's that were DOA. However, mine were just that...DOA. They did not turn on initially for the 50 hour burn in period. I have a separate fixture that I use to burn them in and then swap into the DX18. I had no issues swapping the bulbs out from the dealer and was informed it is not uncommon considering they were shipped from Germany.

 

[SPS2020]

Thanks!
Yup i burned them in 50 hours before dimming.
For now i turned off dimming. And all the sudden my outer bulbs arent turning on.

If its not one thing its the other.

Completely agree...it can be frustrating. I'm running a pair of ATI Blue Plus and a pair of ATI True Actinic.

 

[A;exr54]

I've had a number of T5's that were DOA. However, mine were just that...DOA. They did not turn on initially for the 50 hour burn in period. I have a separate fixture that I use to burn them in and then swap into the DX18. I had no issues swapping the bulbs out from the dealer and was informed it is not uncommon considering they were shipped from Germany.

Yea they already shipped out a replacement blue plus.
No problem.
But I decided to not return the actinic. They are working, just won’t dim.
I have some more on order. I’ll mess with them.

 

[Midrats]

I've had one B+ as I mentioned in the many that I have used over the years burn out prematurely. It worked initially, and would dim fine, it just burned out in a month. It's odd that yours work but don't dim. Have you tried different bulbs in same slots the actinics are in to see if they dim? Are there two ballasts in that fixture? Maybe it's a ballast problem.

 

[A;exr54]

I've had one B+ as I mentioned in the many that I have used over the years burn out prematurely. It worked initially, and would dim fine, it just burned out in a month. It's odd that yours work but don't dim. Have you tried different bulbs in same slots the actinics are in to see if they dim? Are there two ballasts in that fixture? Maybe it's a ballast problem.

I will mess with it some more.
Basically the 2 inner actinic bulbs wouldn’t even turn on when I had the variable speed plug plugged in.
The outer blue plus dimmed fine.
I will test some more once I get another working bulb.

 

[Balthazar]

Im thinking not the bulbs and possibly a setup issue. Did you happen to try swapping the bulbs to the sockets that were dimming?
Btw, location Palm Coast,lived there for a bit. Dont see too many people from there.