Icecap 660 Fuse blown, now nothing.

[doughpat]

Hi everyone,

I suspect I have either bad bulbs or a bad ballast. New setup, german endcaps, 4 x 48" new URI bulbs. Plugged it in, ran perfectly, cycled it several times, no problems. 36 hours later, the fuse blows. I put a new fuse in, it immediately blows (no flicker or anything). I disconnect the harness, reconnect it, re-install the bulbs, plug it in, still nothing--no blowing fuses, no flicker.

I'm trying to rule out the possibility of moisture being the problem, but this isn't likelly as hood is welll vented and 15" tall. The ballast is, however, mounted upside down hanging from the top in the middle of the tank (above a the large center dividing panel. It would have to be vapor--there is absolutely no splashing/bubble popping affecting it.

The fact that it worked for so long should mean my wiring is ok.

Not a big deal, right, except I'm leaving town in 36 hours Icecap was, of course, closed by 1:30 PST, so I had to order a new ballast, shipped overnight (no local stores here). Hopefully its a bunk balllast and I pop this in and it hums. I don't really mind an extra 660 around, really

Might try to round up an ohmmeter from my school and see if I can figure out whats going on. Any ideas?

 

[Eboman]

The Icecap website has some good troubleshooting pages. Especially check out the "continuity test" page (if you can get your hands on an ohmeter). The continuity test will tell you if you've got bad wiring/bulbs.

They also allow you to send in the "bad" ballast and they'll fix it for you. I had one go bad on me a few years ago and the turnaround time was pretty quick (I don't remember if I had to pay anything....).

Hope that helps,
Eboman

 

[Anonymous]

Do you have an overload of power on your recepticle? That was my problem with blowing ballast in the past.

 

[Len]

This happened to me a while ago. It turned out to be a bad bulb IIRC. I know the ballast was fine as I did not have to replace it. It could've been the wiring too.

 

[Anonymous]

The fact that it worked for so long should mean my wiring is ok.

That's a great assumption and one I would have made as well, but the fact is bad wiring can surface at any time. Having had wired one wrong and blowing a handfull of fuses, I'd definitly do the continuity check IC recommends.

 

[doughpat]

Update--swapped out the old ballast with a new one and everything works great. Sweet.