halide bulbs

My mh don't always come on. Do you think it is the bulbs or the ballast? They are only a month old 250 w mogul base. They are the bulbs that came with the fixture that purchased it on ebay. If it is the bulbs. What should I replace them with?

 

I'm leaning more on the ballasts.
What brand of bulbs and or ballasts.
Also, Do you have cooling fans?

 

I was leaning towards the ballast too. It doesn't make sense to me for the bulb to work sometimes but not others. It could just be a loose wire or connection.

 

There's a diagnostic you could do, if one side comes on but not the other. Swap the two bulbs. This might sound obvious, but with the info you've given that's what comes to mind at this moment.

I'm assuming a couple of things. First, there are two bulbs (you say "bulbs" not bulb") I also assume there are two ballasts rather than a single, dual-ballast. Most dual-bulb fixtures I know of have one ballast per bulb.

If what I've assumed is true, tell me this, do both bulbs fail at the same time, every time? Does one bulb come on faithfully, while the other rarely does?

If the last sentence is the case, swap the bulbs. The problem will either "follow the bulb" or remain with the socket. If it follows the bulb, there's your answer. If the issue is isolated to one socket, and swapping bulbs shows you that both bulbs are good--then it could be the ballast, or the socket, or the wiring.

Give us some more info, if you can.