Help my lights dont work!!!

[squidg]

Hi I have a Trigon jewvel 350 tank, It has four lights, 2 at the back and 2 in the front, the front set dont seem to be working, I have tried new bulbs, and nope it wont work, I have tried to dry it to see if it was wet, but no still dont work.

Can anyone help me, I am thinking of opening the light fitting but I dont know how to, please help as i really dont want to buy a new light fitting as they cost a bit.

Thank you for your help!!

Cheers *celebrate

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

Happy new year. What type of lights?

 

[squidg]

i dunno i think they are mutlilink they came with the tank its the front lights,

I have a feeling im gonna have to buy new ones, as some research shows people not being able to get in them.
but any help is good help!

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

I therea little round thing (it's called a starter), looks like a mini soda can?

 

[squidg]

its a long strip light with two bulbs on it, They are 36" long, it looks sealed i would post a pic but comp wont upload photos at the mo.

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

Sounds like it may have a ballest issue then. Is there a fuse an external fuse?

 

[fred1985]

I had a issue with the lighting before on my tank they would not come on. I completely scraped the light did not see any issues so I took out the switch and it was full of corrosion. But that was jest my light but you could have a ballest or pre starter issue.

 

[squidg]

It was a second hand tank i bought, the light had no plug, I am not sure why, i have tried to contact the shop i bought it from but they are not open till tuesday, so just wondered if anyone else had any ideas.
But would it cost me more than £60 to fix? If so I could just buy a new one.

 

[fred1985]

Ok so if there is no switch u must be jest un plugging it to turn it off when it was working? If this is the case the starter switch (round white can about 1" on the round and 2" long) on the inside of the light could be burned out due to the consent power flow. to test the starter switch can to see if that is working u will need to remove the light picture from its housing and u should see the internal guts of the light. U will notice the starter can and the ballast. if u lay the light bulb facing down and plug it in the starter will flicker for a second or light up orange color if it does this then most likely its ur ballast considering it don’t have a switch. But your first step to figuring out the problem is to get the light apart. Do u happen to know the make and model of the light so I can try to get some pics of it online?

 

[fred1985]

Sorry I never bothered to type in the name of the tank that u originally posted. So it’s a bow front tank. the lighting looks different but should still have the starter can. do u know how old the tank is because that company that makes the tank offers a 24 month warranty.

 

[nanu156]

try taking it into your local hardware store and asking for their help.

do it when they won't be busy.

NOT home depot, like a little hardware store owned by a family. There will be a dude there who will be handier then Al Borland. If you are nice, and offer to buy anything needed to fix it there they will likely help you

 

[squidg]

sorry taken so long been trying to fix it.

it needs a new ballast but finding one is finding hard, as It has 3 white wires for the bulbs and the blue and brown wire.
I cannot find a vossloh schwabe 238.527 ballast anywhere, If you knw of somewhere in england that sell them or even could sell them please help me.

 

[Artemis_Psyche]

sorry taken so long been trying to fix it.

it needs a new ballast but finding one is finding hard, as It has 3 white wires for the bulbs and the blue and brown wire.
I cannot find a vossloh schwabe 238.527 ballast anywhere, If you knw of somewhere in england that sell them or even could sell them please help me.

If you haven't already, I would just take it to an electricial contracting company, as it doesn't look like there are any distributors in the UK. An electrical company's parts person should be more than happy to order in the part(even if it is an out of country part), if you really have your heart set on that particular light. When I worked in an electrical/instrumentation shop in Canada people would always bring in weird things unrelated to industrial electrical construction and we could still usually fix it. Only problem is you may be waiting for the parts for a little while, and you'll be paying the electrical comapany's mark up/labour charge, so it could end up costing more...

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

Can you cross reference the part number with another? You don't need the same brand, just the same ratings. So if it is a 2 bulb 24 inch T8 bulb electronic ballast, then that is what you need.

 

[aakaakaak]

- Go to the non-busy, non-Lowes/HomeDepot hardware store with your part.
- Look for the guy (or girl) over the age of 30 that's standing around watching the other workers.
- Ask him if he's got something that'll work.
- If he doesn't have it ask him who does.

 

[nanu156]

aakaakaak and i are on the same page yet again

 

[aakaakaak]

It seems to be a trend. Are you following me or am I following you?

 

[nanu156]

well I always wanted a stalker (thread hijack)

 

[aakaakaak]

Don't worry, I'm not the crazy violent kind of stalker.

....we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread about lighting ballast....

At some point you can either find out from the local hardware guy or determine your time is more valuable than money and go buy a new light. The choice is yours.