What's up with my ballast???

[Reptoreef]

I have had a few suggestions as to the cause of a problem with my Hamilton HQI 250 watt ballast.... The problem is I've only had the ballast for a relatively short time(bought new) and used only a few months, but now will not fire the DE bulbs. I tried (Hamilton Tech, XM, AB, Helios, and Phoenix). Every time the ballast is plugged in or turned on(on timer) it just sits there with no noises or 'humms' unless I wiggle the cord a bit. I have been told that it could be the capacitor or ignitor with the ignitor being the probable cause. Any suggestions would be awesome or even directions to how I can resolve the problem for the least amount would be greatly appreciated. Does anybody know if Hamilton warrantees against such defects as this is kind of upsetting to spend the dough for 'quality' and have this occur.

Thanks in advance, Jason

[dakar]

Jay, do you have or have access to a good meter, where you can check the output voltage of the ballast core and check the capacitance of the cap?

Unfortunately, I haven't found an easy way to verify the if ignitors are working properly, but if the core and cap check out then that's your likely culprit. I might have a spare if you need one.

[Reptoreef]

Don't know of any access around here...