Marineland 3x150 Halides not working - ideas on fixing

rogersb · Jul 22, 2020

I have a Marineland 72" 3x150 halide with t-5 supplements. On Monday the halides would come on then go off and repeat. The on time was only a few minutes. Tuesday the halides would not work at all. Today I took an old bulb and checked it in each socket, then used 2 old bulbs and check in the sockets, but they still did not light up. The old bulbs were working fine when put up for storage.

There is a timer on the light that is working perfectly. It's telling time and turning my t-5's on/off as it should. It shows the halides are on, but they are not. There is only one power cord. I'm going to NC tomorrow and will play around with it again Monday. My thoughts now are to check the wiring and see if anything is corroded and that it is not a ballast issue. There should be three ballasts and all three going like this would be weird.

Let me know if you think I'm wrong about the ballasts and if there is anything else you would do or try. I like this light and don't really want to get anything else right now if I don't have to.

oreo54 · Jul 22, 2020

Sounds like mh ballast failure.

jda · Jul 22, 2020

Each of those has it's own ballast. Not likely that all three work or fail at once. I would check wiring on the switches, blocks and any else that all three share. If there is an electronic timer, then there is a solenoid in there somewhere that you might try to jumper.

Can you work a voltmeter? Just follow it from the power cord and you should be able to find the bad link.

rogersb · Jul 22, 2020

jda said:
Each of those has it's own ballast. Not likely that all three work or fail at once. I would check wiring on the switches, blocks and any else that all three share. If there is an electronic timer, then there is a solenoid in there somewhere that you might try to jumper.

Can you work a voltmeter? Just follow it from the power cord and you should be able to find the bad link.

I do not know how to run one but have seen one run several times and think I could figure it out with a youtube video. They're cheap enough I may pick one up if the wiring looks good.

dadnjesse · Jul 23, 2020

I agree no way all three ballast's went bad at the same time. Is the ballast separate from the light, did you check that outlet, or the cord.

rogersb · Jul 23, 2020

dadnjesse said:
I agree no way all three ballast's went bad at the same time. Is the ballast separate from the light, did you check that outlet, or the cord.

The ballasts are internal. I'm assuming the cord and outlet are good if the t-5 and clock/timer work.

dadnjesse · Jul 23, 2020

Yes I googled it they are internal, looks like you will have to take it apart. It could be a simple fix.

rogersb · Jul 28, 2020

It must be something is loose. I got the end caps off the fixture but was unable to access anything inside because all the other screws are so old and rusted in place I can't open it up. I got a little frustrated and gave the fixture a little bang with my hand and all the halides came on. After awhile I turned them off and was waiting to see if they would turn on when the timer was supposed to but they did not and I cannot get them to turn on by pressing the button for them. Guess I'm looking for a new light.