HID Ballasts...

[chevyx92]

Do you guys know how long HID ballasts average lifespan is? HPS and MH. I know the lamps are somewhere around 20,000 + or - 5,000 or so. I am trying to find out how long the ballasts are suppose to be good for. Thanks for any help.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I had one that lasted less than a year and I have had others that lasted many years but I will say the older ones seem to last longer. I am working on a building that has been there for 15 years and we have only replaced one existing HID light. I have replaced 2 of the 4 I had put up in the last 5 years.

 

[hurk27]

I have good luck with ballast, about the only time I find a bad one is because of other failures, most of the time I find bad igniter's, bad caps, but of the bad ballast I have had to change was after a bad thunderstorm and near by lightning strikes, or a over voltage problem, and a couple of places who don't call when a lamp is cycling on end of life, about the only other problem that can cause ballast failure is not having a sealed fixture and allowing build up of insects to the point of over heating the ballast. stay away from cheep ballast as they don't have tightly wound cores and the windings are aluminum which will vibrate and break or ware through.
I have good luck with advance, but getting copper core ballast is getting almost imposable.

also I use RUUD fixtures which I have never replaced a ballast in one yet, and I been putting them in for over 15 years.