MH bulb question

[Scarfish]

will a MH bulb just shut off if it gets too hot? or is it a sign that the bulb needs to be replaced.

mine now shuts off about every half hour to hour - it's off for about 3-5 min. Been doing this for about a week.

I bought the setup (Mikestod) and I don't think that the bulb was all that old when I got it...maybe 3-4 months old. I've had it running for like 3 months or so.

The canopy is pretty well enclosed but has a 2 small fans plus 1 circular vent(about the size of a baseball). I also added a small fan in the back pointing into the 1"x5" slit above the filter.

I cut the total light time from 7hrs to 6 last night. They now go on at about 6pm-12am. Tonight I got home at about 9:30 and it had shut off at least 1 time around that time.

(ps. Go RED SOX)

 

[Harley387]

I had one that did the same thing. In my case, I found that the bulb had a very small hairline crack in it.

 

[mikestod]

Yes Todd, the bulb only had 3-4 months of use on it. I never had that problem. If you don't think the bulb is overheating...how about the ballast box? Perhaps if that were to get too hot it would cause problems. Also, check the connections to see if they are loose...maybe vibrations are causing them to disconnect? (But I doubt that). If its not those two, then the bulb is probably shot.

 

[Scarfish]

the reflector gets really hot.
the ballast box is fine. I have a fan cool that down

I'm guessing it's the bulb and ordered a new one this morning.

if that's not it, then I think I'll have to adjust the canopy in the back with more vents...

 

[mikestod]

whats the room temp like? I know you haven't had it running a very long time...but how long has this been happeing for? If the ambient temp in the room is above normal, this (in addition to heat from the bulb) may cause the hood to overheat. i had no problem with overheating, but the room temp probably did not go over 75 degrees when i had it...you could always put some vents in the top for better heat dissipation.

 

[Scarfish]

update...
pretty sure it's the heat in the canopy. opened up the canopy front and wedged a fan in there. had to put a barrier next to it, cause the firefish has already jumped out once while i was feeding. fan's been on it for 30 min and no problems so far.

glad I just spent $60 on a new bulb. not that it won't get used but still...

 

[mikestod]

Todd, my contingency plan was to use either a 2" hole saw and put 4-6 vent holes, or use a circular saw and cut a bunch of slits in the top above the reflector to let heat vent up. That way the heat will escape, but the majority of the light will still be contained.