HELP HPS Burning smell

I bought a 250wHPS today and i got it set up and everything when i turned it on it flickered and changed between blue and red specs, after about 20 seconds tunrning it on the bulb was boiling hot and i could smell a stong burning smell like singed human hair lol what is the problem here? Is it just because its a new bulb or what, im worried to switch it on now incase i damage the ballast

Try to clean the bulb maybe it had hair on it or some oil from your skin. Mine starts out blue and switches to red also,and that bulb will get hot for sure. I would switch it on and let it run, if there is something wrong it seems like the bulb would blow vs ruining the ballast.

l3ubba said:

Try to clean the bulb maybe it had hair on it or some oil from your skin. Mine starts out blue and switches to red also,and that bulb will get hot for sure. I would switch it on and let it run, if there is something wrong it seems like the bulb would blow vs ruining the ballast.

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Thanks for the reply mate. Yeah it was because i touched it with the back of my fingers and it burned some hair.

make sure you clean the bulb and don't touch it with your hands it needs to be very clean.

ya u probably smelled your own hair, lint, dog/cat hair burning on the bulb. happened to me once when i first set up a tent, smelled hair burning was like wtf and it was just little fibers that were on the bulb. like they said make sure its clean.

yep the oils from your skin can get on the bulb, and cause the glass to fracture causing the arc tube to rupture(explode)

When new lamp is installed, after this one blows premature...
Do not touch glass of lamp, with your fingers, use something between fingers and glass....
If you touch by accident, use [when off] rubbing alcohol to clean glass.
Oils, lotions, soap, soil, water....transfered from hand to glass of lamp is a 100% no-no...
Good luck....