What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « on: August 09, 2022, 10:19:59 PM » Author: Burrito
I'm aware of the flicker and cycling, but what other signs are there?
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #1 on: August 10, 2022, 03:09:37 AM » Author: Medved
Depends what failure we are talking about. Flickering and cycling use to be results of some nearly broken connection (dry solder joint, oxidation, loose conjection clamp, loose connector,...). Failing winding insulation will have nearly no symptoms until the "magic smoke gets released". Initially for pulse start lamps it may cause longer and longer ignition times (with semiparallel ignitor type) Rusting core uses to end up in failing insulation (it swells up, stressing the winding). Failing capacitors (on CWA) yield reduced lamp power (and color shifts with MH). But tyese were just the most common links between symptom and cause, sometimes it may behave differently. And unless you are regularly checking the ballast temperature or condition, in many cases it really has no symptoms until complete failure.
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #3 on: August 10, 2022, 10:41:19 AM » Author: wide-lite 1000
If it has any  , check your capacitor(s) !! When I first lit my 700w OV-50 , it was also drawing a TON of amps ! Turned out that one of the caps was a dead short . That in itself will cook a ballast in short order  .  Dim lamp can also be a sign of a bad cap .
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #4 on: August 10, 2022, 10:47:55 AM » Author: Burrito
Is this ballast on it's way out?
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #5 on: August 10, 2022, 10:52:55 AM » Author: wide-lite 1000
Looks perfectly fine to me .
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #6 on: August 10, 2022, 10:54:01 AM » Author: Burrito
Ah, Ok, Cause it's pretty loud. It also operates my MH lamp a bit dim, but maybe that's just cause it's a Satco lamp
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Please, watch out for the future. It's not looking good. Loves instruction manuals of any kind!

	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #7 on: August 10, 2022, 11:05:47 AM » Author: wide-lite 1000
Could also be a weak capacitor ! You should invest in a decent meter with the capacitance function if you don't already have one .
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #8 on: August 10, 2022, 11:06:38 AM » Author: Burrito
No, I won't yet. Cause i'm not that great with math or reading meters
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #9 on: August 10, 2022, 11:17:26 AM » Author: wide-lite 1000
Mine's all digital . You simply set the meter to the capacitance setting , remove the wires from the cap. (power off of course!) , touch the probes to the terminals of the cap , wait for the meter to display the results . The number you get should be pretty close to the uF rating of the cap.  For example , a 24uF cap. should read between 22-26uF anymore or less and somethings wrong .
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	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #10 on: August 10, 2022, 11:18:31 AM » Author: Burrito
Ok, I'll try and see if i can buy one in the near future. First though, I need to get a book so i can restore vintage cars
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ON LG FOR 2 YEARS! Please don't ask to meet up with me, as I am still living with my mother. Don't send me items either please, thank you!
Please, watch out for the future. It's not looking good. Loves instruction manuals of any kind!

	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #12 on: August 10, 2022, 01:19:25 PM » Author: Burrito
Yeah, this one is already loud. On video, it's a bit muted, but in real life, it's freaking loud!
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ON LG FOR 2 YEARS! Please don't ask to meet up with me, as I am still living with my mother. Don't send me items either please, thank you!
Please, watch out for the future. It's not looking good. Loves instruction manuals of any kind!

	Re: What are the early signs of HID ballast failure? « Reply #14 on: August 10, 2022, 04:02:23 PM » Author: Medved
Quote from: xelareverse on August 10, 2022, 08:51:03 AM One coil getting way hotter than the other, lamp burning dim, windings changing color, swelling out of windings, extra amp draw. That is definitely a sign of failure. Normally the ballasts use to be designed to have similar temperature at both coils. Plus obviously tye swelling or discoloration really means something ise severely on its way out. Could be capacitor (it is the magnetic part that will overheat when the cap gets shorted), but it could as well be an interturn short circuit in the hotter running winding.
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