Hubble Lights Garbage!!

[dogwasher]

I have posted about my 2 year old Hubble 250w wall mount lights from Kleenrite before and I'm still in the same boat. Kleenrite and Hubble are Worthless! I purchased 16 of the lights, my line power to the lights is 208 single phase(208 three phase at the panel) My meter checks in at 214volts at the tranformer, I have gone threw approximately 30 capacitors and a good amount of bulbs. Yes they are wired correctly and yes the capacitors are the correct size. I'm guessing that heat plays a role in this because its worse in the warmer weather. Now that the weather has warmed up this week I have three lights down again tonight, I have emailed Hubble one time and have asked Kleerite to ask there suppler about my situation two times in the past two years and they never get back to me so I guess this is just another learning lesson for me!

 

[under pressure]

What lights will you switch to?

 

[washtubman]

I have had my Hubbles (12 of them) for over 8 years and only had to replace one of them. Have you had an electrician check everything? Hard to imagine that many problems without a wiring or some other internal factors at work. Good luck.

 

[mjc3333]

Did you get a qualified electrician to look at the problem you are having? There might be something they can test for that would ultimately find the problem. I run my 175W Hubble MH lights at 120volts at two of my washes. I also run another set at 240 volts. 208 volts is not a common voltage to run single phase equipment or lighting. Hubble gives you I think 5 different settings you can use 120 208 240 277 480 volts. If the electrician determines it’s not a voltage or wiring problem, I would press Hubble to explain why you cannot seem to get any long term use out of their lights powered at 208 volts. Kleen Rite ultimately is just the distributor of the lights. They cannot control how the manufacturer sets up the lights to work properly in every situation.

 

[Waxman]

Did you get a qualified electrician to look at the problem you are having? There might be something they can test for that would ultimately find the problem. I run my 175W Hubble MH lights at 120volts at two of my washes. I also run another set at 240 volts. 208 volts is not a common voltage to run single phase equipment or lighting. Hubble gives you I think 5 different settings you can use 120 208 240 277 480 volts. If the electrician determines it’s not a voltage or wiring problem, I would press Hubble to explain why you cannot seem to get any long term use out of their lights powered at 208 volts. Kleen Rite ultimately is just the distributor of the lights. They cannot control how the manufacturer sets up the lights to work properly in every situation.

But shouldn't the place you bought them through (KR this case) help you out if a problem crops up like this? Sometimes just another person calling the mfg. can get answers, which is really what is needed here.

As carwash owners, we are expected to stand behind our products and services and my customers consistently hold my work to 'acceptable standards of quality'. They demand a certain value for the $ and why shouldn't they? If a carwash is expected to deliver a consistent and therefore valuable service, why shouldn't a carwah supply-distributor be held to as high or higher standards? I say they should jump in here, help out and get some possible causes of this problem determined.

 

[mjc3333]

I agree 100%. I was referring to the fact that Kleen Rite may not be able to solve the problem themselves without input from the customer, the manufacturer, and a good qualified electrician.

 

[dogwasher]

I agree 100%. I was referring to the fact that Kleen Rite may not be able to solve the problem themselves without input from the customer, the manufacturer, and a good qualified electrician.

I have asked KR to help me out....no help yet. It would be nice to have a opinion from the electrical light supplier.

 

[MEP001]

Have you tried to contact Hubbell directly?

 

[pitzerwm]

In 3PH Delta, on one leg the voltage is much higher. You can not use that leg by itself. I blew up some stuff once with that error,

 

[I.B. Washincars]

In 3PH Delta, on one leg the voltage is much higher. You can not use that leg by itself. I blew up some stuff once with that error,

I hooked a vacuum to that leg once Man would it suck...for a little while

 

[vinh]

Dogwasher, i feel you pain. Here is your solution. go to the ebay auction below and buy 16 new ballast kits at $17 a piece and 16 new bulbs at $13 a piece. These are high quality Advance kits and GE bulbs. Change you wiring so that you have 120 V coming to the transformer. Problem solve. New ballast and bulbs for $500 is dirt cheap. These are high quality ballast and bulbs. If this does not work you got an electrical problem.

Even if you don't change all the ballast and bulb, at the price below you can keep changing what is broken without breaking the bank. Don't tell to many people about this they might buy it all up. Also forum members, he got 320w ballast ($27) and bulbs ($13). Time to stock up.

http://cgi.ebay.com/71A5570-001D-17...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2a061c1a98

http://cgi.ebay.com/GE-MVR175-VBU-P...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2a062b1eb2

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180491130788&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180492011160&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

 

[I.B. Washincars]

I notice that those kits are for pulse start lights. How do you tell a pulse start from one that isn't? Can you use those kits in one that isn't pulse? DW also has 250W lights and those kits are not 250.

 

[MEP001]

The ballasts and bulbs will always say "Pulse start" or have "PS" in the bulb code if they are. If they aren't pulse start there will be no mention, plus there will be only a transformer and capacitor and no starter.

You can use a pulse start kit and bulb in a fixture that isn't, but it MUST have a vertical base-up bulb configuration, and both components must be changed.

 

[Rick Lancelle]

Hubbell Lights

I had a simular experience with overhead shop lights about a year ago, they had been installed on a building addition. Approximately 20 of the 30 lights quit working under a 6 month period. Contacted the electrical contractor about this issue, who inturn contacted Hubbell and had determined that there was a issue with the ballast from there vendor. Hubbell did provide warranty replacement through the contractor for those that failed and those that may fail in the near future. It would certainly be worth contacting Hubbell or Kleen-rite and establish if the same circumstances could possibly apply.

 

[dogwasher]

Thanks Rick, its mainly the capacitors that keep burning out. I have only tried to contact Hubble threw emails two times. I'm not ruling out that it could be my building electrical..Im not sure what is going on.

 

[mjwalsh]

Dogwasher, i feel you pain. Here is your solution. Change you wiring so that you have 120 V coming to the transformer. Problem solve. If this does not work you got an electrical problem.

Whoa --- If you can get three 120 VAC out of your specific 3 phase & not have wild leg issues then possibly you could keep all three power legs reasonably balanced with Vinh's approach. If not, based on the quantity of your lights --- dogwasher --- the 120 VAC approach would be a risky proposition unless your entrance power is significantly oversized to absorb that kind of imbalance.

If you could visit with an engineer at your local power company he may be able to clarify exactly what you have. Otherwise he will at no cost to you put a power monitoring device between your meter & your power & it should reveal problem incidents. I have seen it happen where the electrician blew the concern off but the engineer's involvement with the proper monitoring device & --- a little more know how --- got the situation corrected!