HID light issue

[halocline]

Howdy,

Is anyone on this forum well versed in diagnosing HID light problems? I have a LM 21w that won't fire up initially after it's been sitting for several weeks. I have to flip the switch several times, eventually it does fire, then works fine for the remainder of a several day trip. Then I put it away, next trip, same thing. I will probably send it back to LM a 2nd time (they couldn't find anything the first time, but it was working when I sent it). Before I do that, I would like to have a stab at fixing it myself with some help from a knowledgeable person.

For example, is this a characteristic of a problem with the bulb, ignitor maybe? I doubt it's the switch. Once it fires up once, wiggling the switch and cord has no affect at all; I can't make it blink or short, it works reliably. It's only after sitting for weeks that I have the problem. I'm worried the next time it simply won't start up.

Thanks!

 

[Couv]

try here CandlePowerForums

or paging @lucca brassi

 

[halocline]

Thanks, I remember that guy now, he was a real DIY light guru.

 

[mustang_5l]

Is there an e/o cable on it?
Sometimes the switches can go bad and this is one of the symptoms.
Also could be a short in the cable?
What is the battery voltage? What about when it is being fired up? Could be a battery dropping a cell.

 

[Couv]

I think the issue was resolved in this thread:
Need help diagnosing a problem with my HID

 

[halocline]

Because the problem is so intermittent, the advice I'm getting is that it really could be any one of the bulb, ballast, or ignitor. Very unlikely that it's a switch or wiring issue. (Although, I did remove the bulb and found some funky looking connections.) Anyhow, replacing those three components is the only way I'm told to be sure to fix it. (The parts would probably test fine) Since HID components are getting harder to find, it makes more sense to simply replace the light head with LED than put money into the HID head. The bulb alone is $150.

It's too bad in a way. HID light is really pretty and has a different character than LED. That's why I bought it. But it's fragile, expensive to fix, and the quality of LED light seems to improve every week. So I'm getting a new LED light head and keeping my canister, which only has a few dozen charge cycles on it.