Well, I got the new light in yesterday. Tested it with my GFI before setting it on the tank and wiring it in to my timers. No problems! So after putting on the little legs, setting it on the tank, plugging into my timers, and tie wrapping everything up nice and neat, I test it again. Each bank...on and off a couple of times and poof! One channel flickers, dies, and refuses to come back on. This new light has a ballast problem! I even swapped connectors on the lights to make sure that the bulbs weren't bad and they light, but plug them back into their proper plugs - and nothing. I even ran an extension cord from another outlet to bypass my timer and GFI and nothing. If you turn it on and off 20 times it may flicker once and it may turn on once, but if you turn it off, it won't come back on. Now I'm 2 for 2. My LFS is going to order me a Current USA Orbit fixture which their supplier says is a better made unit - let's hope so. I know many of you have not had any problems with your units...consider yourself lucky. Maybe Coralife has just had a run of bad parts from suppliers, making the current batch deffective. Whatever it is their QC sucks. I sent them an e-mail and asked if maybe they could plug them in and test them after they build them and before they ship them. Just wanted to pass this on for anyone searching for info. on lights. If you try it, I hope your luck is better than mine.
On a side note, the 260w fixture would have given me 2wpg, I'm thinking about using this oportunity to up the wpg to 4wpg with the 520w Orbit Extreme. At first I'll keep one bank off and try lower light plants. As my green thumb developes, I can up the wpg to 4 and try Co2. At least this way, I'm covered for whatever I decide I want to grow.
