how long does a mh take to start

mine takes about 15-20 min before it "starts" i was just wondering if this was normal

I'm interested too. I never used a MH, but 'heard' they are an instant start (hence the massive inrush current over the HPS)

The HPS I know take a few minutes to warm up to running speed, sotospeak.

Is the bulb a new one? Is the ballast new? or old? Old wornout, just about to blow bulbs will take time to start up. If the ballast is built into the hood, and is hot it will take a while to start up. If the ballast is old, and about to die it will take a while to start up. Hope this helps
Nim

yea its brand new with a new bulb. its a dual ballast

Mines fire up immediately.

If it's new and it's a digital, it is probably defective somehow. Digitals should fire up instantly.
Nim

I have lumatek digital and use MH, mine comes on right away. Get a new bulb and try it out, you should be replacing those bulbs at least every year anyway, besides they don't cost much.

digital MH here.. fires immediately

weird. anyway to tell if the bulb is bad somehow? would switching the switch to hps while the ballast is on ruin the ballast? I kno when i first started the light it was on hps for about 5 min then i figured out i needed to switch it

I'm gona grab a replacement bulb and see if thats the prob. I hope so....

I have a 400w mh and it "starts" right away but it is definatly not to full strength for a few minutes. Its all the way after about 5 minutes at the most though.

MH takes a few minutes to fire up... even after running for a while and suffering a power outage. They still take time to re-fire once power is back on.

HPS should fire up right away.

I have a 400 watt magnetic ballast that runs both MH and HPS. Here in FL we often have power outages and after I put up my light (the MH for veg) we had an outage... only lasted a few minutes but when I went to check on the light... it wasn't coming back on. I called HTG and they explained that the MH lights take some time to fire up but the HPS should fire up right away.

Sure enough... 10 minutes later my MH was back on an running.

that's comforting. i'm going to get a ph/light/moisture meter soon, if the light intensity tests alright i'm not gona worry about it. Because its not a digital ballast i think it takes a while to "light". before it does there is really kewl looking lightning action in the center of the bulb until it "starts"....

but thanks for the input...