Hello everyone, it has been quite a long time. I apologize for this, I hope all is well with everyone healthwise and personal lives and such. After recovering from depression of a failed relationship, I am finally feeling myself and getting back into the hobby. Over the last few years that I’ve been absent my dad and I installed a 175 W mercury vapor yard blaster out on a post with underground wiring. It is doing well. I still have a 35w HPS Electripak wallpack I purchased brand new as a child in 1993 and it is still running well. And lastly about three years ago I reversed my switch to compact fluorescent which I carried out in 2012 two years after I bought the house and set it up with incandescent and I went back to incandescent but halogen again.  Also my garage is lit with T8 fluorescent. I ran T12 originally but had cheap ballasted fixtures  and they wouldn’t light in the cold winter. So I am still running full incandescent and fluorescent light .....but halogen and T8. .no LED although being nocturnal I would save me a lot of money and if I did it I would go to all glass filament LED but I can’t get myself to do it. I’m too old school..... Ok so that brings me to my fascination with SOX, because as a kid I wanted a Phillips Mini SOX Wallpacks at the store but could not afford and got the HPS instead. To cut to the chase, I recently decided two purchase to American Electric SOX 18 watt wallpacks On eBay which came without the bulbs. I purchased A pair of Philips SOX E and installed everything both packs on the side of my home near my porch. I installed a mechanical timer set for midnight to 4 AM as I get out of work at 12am and the walkways has been pitch black. by the time I get home from a 20 minute drive they are just warmed up. I go to bed at about 4 AM and the lights are directly across from my bedroom so not only will it extend the lifespan but it will keep them consistent as I worried a photocell would cause false turn off since I have normal incandescent lighting around that area as well that operates on a switch. So the very first time I fired them up both came on, and this was a test… Then I turned the power off and when they came on at night one of them did not start but it was humming. I turned the power manually off and back on and they both ignited. That one has been causing me trouble with intermittent ignition failure and just a humming sound. The other is behaving perfectly. I pulled the bulb out and check the OCV and it is 310 V.There is no igniter in the fixture, just a small autotransformer and all the wiring seems intact and everything seems brand new even though the fixture was made in 2001. I am thinking I have a dud lazy lamp so I ordered another one. It looks like SOX-E have a small built in capacitor and my hope is that this is the failure. The seller has no more fixtures available, it’s not as nice as the Phillips mini SOXI liked as a kid but they do the job and look identical to my Electripak on an opposite wall of the house. So far my love affair with SOX after wanting them for almost 30 years has been off to a rocky start LOL but I am hoping the new bulb gets things running smooth and they behave. I am looking for any input guys and I will put some pictures up once everything is operating as it should. The mercury never causes a problem neither does the HPS. The SOX seem to be a bit on the “bitchy” side LoL!!! They are also verrrry slow to get ready too....(hahaa!) Cheers guys/gals take care, and I’m only joking relating gender to the bulbs because the mercury is pretty much obnoxious and right in my face (it’s on a 6ft post) and out of them all I prefer the SOX for having a late nite outside beer LoL!

Mike

Hey wellcome back, everything will sort out

Compare the Voc with the lamps out, try to swap the lamps between the luminaiers, see what happens

Are they on the same phase ?

Assuming that the ballasts are HX, a lamp that fails to start (open circuit) is probably not dangerous situation. But if the lamp is shorted (failure of the small capacitor), the ballast will be destroyed if left to run for any significant time...

Hey Ash, I remember you, thanks so much! I think you are correct, I have not been able to undergo testing yet since I’m at work but I pulled the pins on the mechanical timer this way the lights do not come on which I feel is a good thing because with the bulb in these last few times the ballast was making almost no sound but with the bulb out it would hum. Maybe an intermittent short of some sort. I did not realize the capacitor was wired parallel to the power input of the bulb. Since the other bulb is ordered already I may just wait and install it and see if the problem is solved. But if I get some free time I will undergo the logical troubleshooting that you recommended. I’m just superstitious to touch the other fixture since it’s running so well LOL just kidding… But I pulled the timer on off pins so nothing is damaged I also removed the possibly suspect bulb. The replacement should arrive this week. I know that’s lazy but if it doesn’t fix issue I’ll have more methods now to troubleshoot and means I have bad ballast I’d assume. But with a different pitch of hum between unlit bulb and no bulb I suspect a short now. I will keep you posted.  Oh, and yes they are wired to the same phase, same power tap and timer and hot neutral and ground are all identical and shared. It is a mechanical Tork timer from Lowe’s, gray metal box style.

Hey, I have really good news. I got home from work this evening shortly after midnight and discovered that UPS had dropped off the new replacement bulb. I installed it and noticed that the old one actually had a loud rattle as if a piece of metal was loose in the base. The new one seems to be working perfectly, time will tell but it seems to strike consistently just like it’s twin. Thanks so much, I’ll add some pictures when I get a chance.I don’t exactly make a lot of money, and between the fixtures and bulbs it was more than I wanted to spend, so now I have to pay it off but it’s something I wanted since I was a kid so I am glad that I finally can enjoy them hopefully they behave! My ex fiancé totally hated my lighting hobby, said that I could not add fixtures around the house! Only those decorative incandescent which were nice but I always wanted mercury vapor and sox, heck I had to fight to put up my 30yearnold HPS wallpack on the other side of that wall. I must add, as I feel obliged to, she was a great person and that is why I fell into depression for a number of years after she left for another more wealthy man. But maybe to disagreements over simple things that I accepted, like refusal to allow my lighting hobby, could have spelt disaster in the long run so maybe it was for the best. But anyway… Sorry for venting you guys were like family though! The lights did their 4 hour midnite to 4am (time I get home to sleep) timer cycle and seem running well for now. We will see  tonight if they both come on again and continue and I’ll check back here in a week! I simply believe transportation vibration somehow damaged the internal support structure or contact integrity in the base of the first lamp. Since it was intermittent ignition and since it had a very loose loud rattle but could not see through the silver coating below the disc. To see what was going on but I know the capacitor that helps start it without an igniter is down there.
Take care guys!