Over heated electronic HID ballast

[Mr. Bill]

I've been dealing with this issue for the past couple weeks which I thought I could share with everyone. A brand new high school which was finished about 2 years ago has had about 25% of their ballasts fail in their gym. This is an air conditioned gym. These are electronic ballasts for 400W, pulse start, metal halide lamps. When they were returned to the manufacturer the school was told the warranty was voided because the ballasts got too hot. (the ballats actually record peak temp) The operating temperature range is -20C to +65C. 24-month warranty is voided at 80C. That's pretty dang warm.

The ballast manufacturer kept saying it's because the ballasts weren't mounted properly. These came factory installed from one of the major high bay manufacturers.

I think I've figured it out now. And I'm going to be a lot more careful about electronic HID ballasts in the future. The ballast housing has no ventillation (which is typical) and it looks like a single screw held the ballast in place with mostly air on all sides of the ballast. This ballast apparantly needed a mounting plate installed behind the ballast with as much surface area as possible in contact with the fixture housing to act as a heat sink.

So now I'm going thru the finger pointing with the ballast manufacturer, fixture manufacturer, and school district to get replacement ballasts paid for. I'm thinking the replacement ballasts should be mounted remote and exposed to keep the temp down.

Anyone else have issues with electronic HID ballasts?

 

[barbeer]

That is very interesting........any contact with the NRTL that tested/listed the assembly? Once had to re-ballast an electronic retrofit because advance had a bad ballast lot, they paid for it all!

 

[LarryFine]

So now I'm going thru the finger pointing with the ballast manufacturer, fixture manufacturer, and school district to get replacement ballasts paid for. I'm thinking the replacement ballasts should be mounted remote and exposed to keep the temp down.

You've got my support. You didn't spec the components or mount them. The manufacturer should have made the assembly functional.

Of course, whoever specified the luminaires should have investigated the location temperature and made sure the fixtures met them.

If they did, then the heat came from within the ballast.

How nice to say a warranty is void if the device overheats. What do you do if overheating is the complaint?


"I'm sorry, my warranty is void if the installation is damaged by fire."

 

[iwire]

All core and coil ballasts count on the enclosure to heat sink the ballast. Tight mounting increases ballast life.

It does not surprise me the electronic ones do as well.

 

[Mr. Bill]

Of course, whoever specified the luminaires should have investigated the location temperature and made sure the fixtures met them.

If they did, then the heat came from within the ballast."

It's an air conditioned gym. I don't see how the ambient room temperature could be the cause of ballast failure.

How nice to say a warranty is void if the device overheats. What do you do if overheating is the complaint?

"I'm sorry, my warranty is void if the installation is damaged by fire."

The real obnoxious part about the ballast manufacturer is that they advertise that their ballast has a heat management system to protect the ballast. If the temp gets too hot (86C) then the ballast will dim the lamp to 50% output. If the temp gets even hotter (91C) then the ballast will switch itself off. Oh, but it's only printed in the warranty that you realize by then the warranty is voided. If they have this technology in the ballast then I think they should set the shut-off temperatures low enough so as not to void their warranty. But that's just my opinion.

 

[betcher78]

have you checked the input voltages? Im sure you have but its always good to ask.

I had issues with my reg feed to my home. I have several tripplite AVR's around the house on all electronic equipment ( the place i used to work supplied them for all customers comptuer equipment and they used the power switch on these to switch all machines on adn off daily. ) so i got them all!.they would almost constantly show drop. and they would click later on at night when the other houses A/c's would turn on .
anyway. for about 2 years the lights in my garage, 10 dual tube fluor lights would always shut off. even in the dead of winter. one here . one there.

voltage on "110" was recorded for a 24hr period. high side was 150, low side was 110. average was 138 or so.

i had the transformer replaced. no more problems. now a nice 118-120.