RandomCatPerson
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| I know its possible to change the cap values on a m47 ballast to run 700w mv, has anyone made this conversion?
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joseph_125
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I didn't have a proper 700w lamp to test so I used a 1000w lamp during testing but I'd found derating the capacitor value to 18.5uF from the original 24uF seems to be close for 700w lamp operation. I used a 16uf and 2.5uf capacitor connected in parallel. Just make sure to use a capacitor that's rated for enough voltage as the 1000w ballast. I think it's 480v minimum. This should work for Advance M47 ballasts. I suppose other M47 ballasts that use a 24uF capacitor could also be derated in such a manner. See here for the full results. |
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wide-lite 1000
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| My 700w MV OV-50 has 3 capacitors totaling 17.5uF .
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!
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joseph_125
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| I heard that GE's 1000w and 700w mercury luminaires used the same ballast cores at one point. The only difference was the capacitors. I wonder if Westinghouse balalsts were like that too.
I'm considering getting a real 700w lamp to test out using my setup.
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Medved
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| Reducing capacitance value to make a "1000W CWA ballast" run a 700W lamp:
If the 700W lamps are of lower current, you may just lose some of the CWA ability to compensate the mains variation.
If the rated arc currents are the same, then it will work normally.
In any way double check your conversion whether the arc current after the lamp warmed up matches its rating. Capacitance values used with one ballast maker may differ what the other ballast type may need to get the same result.
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funkybulb
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| My 1000 / 700 watt MV ballast is a power factor corrected HX ballast
But it got two leads one for 1000 watt and other is 700 watts
But it a choke style for 480 volts.
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No LED gadgets, spins too slowly. Gotta love preheat and MV. let the lights keep my meter spinning.
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wide-lite 1000
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| I hear a lot of people say the 700 and 1000w ballasts are the same except for the cap values . HOWEVER , the 700w ballast in the OV-50 says right on the tag H-35 . If the 700 & the 1000 are the same than the ballast should say H-35/H-36 and list the different cap values needed for each wattage . The 100/175 watt ballast in my Unistyle 250 says H-38/H-39 on the ballast and the wiring diagram clearly shows how to wire for each wattage . I'm not saying that changing the cap values won't work but close monitoring of arc voltage and current appears to be a must !! Furthermore , what affect on lamp/gear life will result ??
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!
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joseph_125
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| When I heard it, it was specially for the older GE M-1000 ballasts so I'm not sure if it applies for the other manufacturers. I've also heard GE specifically used the same core for other similar wattages such as 200/250w HPS and 310/400w HPS with each using different cap values.
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wide-lite 1000
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| While I'm not saying it didn't happen , I'm saying I personally haven't seen it . I know that GE has been known to make their replacement ballasts completely different from OE ballasts . Using the same core just with different caps. does make sense from a parts stock standpoint .
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James
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| For anyone from 230V countries reading this, there is a much easier solution : the official ballast for 700W mercury lamps used to consist of a 400W + 250W connected in parallel. Only when these lamps became popular enough was a dedicated 700W ballast introduced. Now that the 700W ballasts are obsolete, some users are reverting to the original 400+250 configuration.
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Rommie
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As ever, useful information James, many thanks. I've never bothered trying to get any 700W lamps because of the ballast issue, I might see what's out there now  |
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joseph_125
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| @wide-lite 1000, I suppose GE always liked to build their luminaires a bit different compared to others (and also used different terminology like referring to PCs and ignitors and PE and starting aids respectively) . The two different ballast lines was always odd to me too. GE had the regular replacement ballasts that looked similar to ballasts from Advance and Universal but they also had the OEM ballasts used OE in their luminaires. BTW you can buy the OEM style ballasts separately too. If you search "GE Renewal Parts" on eBay there's a few for sale.
@James, good info to know in case I ever get hold of a European style 700w mercury lamp and needed to find a choke for it.
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wide-lite 1000
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| Truthfully , it wasn't just GE ! It seems that a number of manufacturers used ballasts that always seem to be a different size from the standard replacements . My OV-50 is designed so that MAJOR SURGERY would be required to install a different ballast.
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!
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joseph_125
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| Yeah some of those older Westinghouse and GE lights really had some funky core sizes. It seems like Powerlites used fairly standard sizes. They used Sola ballasts as OE which might be the reason why.
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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HID, LPS, and preheat fluorescents forever!!!!!!
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| It’s important to note that the European and Japanese 700w mercury vapor lamps run at around 135v 5.9a while North American 700w H35 mercury vapor lamps run at around 265v 2.8a. So far, my best attempt to run a North American 700w H35 mercury vapor lamp was to use 10 2 lamp series 26w series PL-C preheat CFL HX autotransformer ballasts in parallel, but for some odd reason, the lamp ran at its proper current of 2.8a, but the arc voltage drop was only about 170v at the highest. The OCV of those ballasts was 385v each for the purpose of running 2 26w PL-C CFL lamps in series.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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