MH mag ballast capacitors FS in FL

[davejnz]

Those of you running your typical M58 magnetic probe start ballasts(almost all 250Mh bulbs use this ballast),they come equiped with a 15uF capacitor.Dakar suggested trying the 22.5uF capacitors that come standard with your H37(250w Iwasaki) ballast and wiring them in place of the 15uF caps.The results were that these higher rated caps really drive a probe start MH much better as well as being able to use the Iwasaki on a M58 ballast with excellent results.I had to order 5 of these capacitors and only need 1 so i have 4 for sale.$5 a piece plus shipping or $10 plus shipping for all 4.

[perpetual98]

Send one up my way with my Golden Pearls

[davejnz]

Sure thing E,They should be arriving by Monday.I have to send out Tyler some stuff too so i'll get you 1 packaged and shipped out on Tue.

[perpetual98]

I was just giving you grief. You don't have to send me one. Unless you want to of course.

[dakar]

Magnacrap capacitors? Can I take it tracking down the Advance caps were harder to get ahold of?

Anyone that tries these on an standard M58 ballast and bulb, please report back your results. As David mentioned I have tried a couple of different bulbs with them and they definately burn a little brighter. I'd not suspect overdriving the halide a little should effect the useable lifespan of the bulbs, but still needs more testing. (need to get some more halides to experiment with.

[davejnz]

Yes Dave,unfortunately I couldn't locate a source for the Advance caps.At least the ones i was able to find though aren't the cheap metal cased ones found in the Magnatek ballasts i have.They just came in the mail today so I'l be wireing one up to the M58/H37 I'm useing to fire my 250w `saki.Next test is to see if i can "let the smoke out" of this XM10k i got laying around.That bulb is super bright with just a standard 15uF cap,Its gonna be intereseting to see how it performs with a 22.5uF cap.

[dakar]

Make sure to use plenty of flux and solder the connections to the capacitor if it just has the lugs as pictured, that'll make sure there is no arcing since instead of leads (solder them too!) Then put the cover back on the ballast box!!!!

[davejnz]

LOL,If i put the cover back on,all the smoke will be stored in the ballast box.
I just swapped out this crappy metal cased 15uF cap that came with my Advance M58/H37 balast with the new 22.5uF cap.Turns out,the guy i bought the ballast from must of switched out the Advance cap with this cheap one(Aerovox??) because i know Advance wouldn't put that cap in their ballasts.
RESULTS:startup was immediate,the time it took for the bulb to reach operating temp/max output was decreased 50%.The difference in the bulbs output is dramatic,to my eyes i'd say its at least 20% brighter.I really need to get a LUX meter so i can start testing output so i can give real data.Although these caps might be Magnatek,they are much different than the magnatek caps i've seen/used(metal cased)and they seem to perform just as well as the Advance cap I tested earlier(the one I let the smoke out of)

[dakar]

Only have one Magnatek ballast here, it's an H33, and it's the only one I have with a capacitor with a metal housing, I'll look later and see whos name is stamped on it.

I do however have a couple of 15uF caps made by Aerovox, they came with the M138 ballasts, but they too have the typical plastic round encasing. Tried one of those caps to fire up different halide bulbs, while they fired okay the 22.5uF cap really cranks them up a notch.

But I did put a meter on them and they came in with 5% of their rated 15uF.

Think someone just tossed that cap on that ballast for you

All of the caps that shipped with my Advance ballasts have the Advance name printed on them. Not sure if they make their own or just rebrand someone elses.