MH ballast, please ID(photos)

[rjs5134]

The photos below are of my MH ballast and ignitor. Can someone tell me a little about what I've got here? Is it garbage? Is it an electronic or magnetic ballast?

Lastly, I need to order replacement bulbs and I was thinking about DE Ushio 10K. Are they the proper bulbs for this ballast?







Sorry for the blurry pics, new camera.

Thanks for the help.

[charlie]

I haven't ever seen one like that. Let me get ahold of a buddy and see if he can help out.

As for a replacement bulb, check here:
List of all my articles

That might help you out a bit on your choices.

[rjs5134]

OMG!!! That's a load of information, alot of reading material for tonight... I spent less time leasing my last 3 trucks combined than I've spent researching my skimmer itself and now my replacement lights/ballasts.

What made me curious about this is the M58 ballast with an ignitor. I saw on another forum that the M58 is usually for a "probe start" and combined with a capacitor. A "pulse start" ballast, like an M138 would be combined with a capacitor and an ignitor. Although that thread is 5 years old and things may have changed. I'm kind of confused as to whether I have a pulse or probe start, obviously.

Then Sanjay's article throws in the electronic ballast option and it's decreased electrical usage and now I'm really unsure what to do.

Thanks for the help Charlie, you rock!!!

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Charlie asked me to take a look at this thread

It appears like you have a Dual HQI ballast. An HQI ballast contains both an igniter and capacitor. It will fire most DE and mogul 250W bulbs. It overdrives mogul mount bulbs so they produce similar PAR to DE bulbs but at the cost of reduced life of about 15% which oddly enough is about the increase in PAR

HTH,
Kevin

[rjs5134]

Good news Charlie and Kevin!!! Thanks for the help. Gonna order my bulbs tomorrow.

Keep up the great work.