so i recieved my ballast yesterday and the thing was dented

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?a...25&t=9968&st=0#

do you guys think its still usable

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Im not sure what to tell you, my first thoughts are that it should be fine as long as it isnt leaking any of the oil, but then again I have absolutely NO EXPERIENCE with those types of Capacitors at all.

If it was damaged on the inside, then the plates in that lower area could have been shifted closer together and that would be a raise in capacitance. With a Magnetic ballast this could put more power to the bulb (perhaps a good thing).

If the capacitance is reduced, then that means more power is gonna be lost on the ballast, and you wont get full potential from your lamp (couldnt say how much lower, would need to meter cap to find out).

Just wire it up and see, be safe and let it run for a few hours or so checking on it.

that sucks :angry:

so i might lose power thats not cool. Is there a chance it could accidentally put out too much power

Its hard to explain, but ill try.

the ballast (transformer) will convert the power from the wall to a different Voltage and current.

Your bulb will take approximatly 1000W of power, but your ballast will draw more than 1000W of power. (a 400W ballast draws 450W, .9 power factor)

so your ballast "IM GUESSING" will draw probably 1050 - 1100W of power. 1000 of those watts will go to the bulb, the remainder is LOST as heat across the ballast coil.

The capacitor serves its purpose to balance out the equation. If you were to remove the capacitor, the ballast would draw the same amount of power, but MORE power would be lost on its coil, meaning less power for the bulb.

So, you can see that reducing capacitance yeilds to LESS POWER at bulb, more power lost on ballast coil

Adding capacitance yeilds MORE power to bulb, but less power lost on ballast coil.

If you completly balance the circuit, then the full 1050-1100W will go to the bulb, but this is very dangerious and very unstable.

The problem is, with that DENT, and not knowing alot about those OIL type capacitors I could presume to guess if you have LOST capacitance or GAINED it. Nor could I accuratly say if did LOSE/GAIN how much would be lost/gained.

I believes odds are, that its just fine and that if there has been a change in the Capacitance value then its probably negligible.

Just hook it up and see how it performs.

Don't want the darn thing to leak. Air conditioning or electrical supply houses may be able to match it. Probably best to replace.

Yes, allow me to reiterate(sp). You do wanna order a replacement, but untill your replacement comes, it would be OK to try this one out for short periods of time.

If the plates or whatever is crushed on the inside then the cap may serve as a short, and serving as a short in series, would be the same as just having the cap removed. So you would be underpowering the bulb, and would be safe to do any testing.

If the cap is parallel to the bulb, then if its shorted out, it will instantly trip your circuit breaker/fuse. Still no damage done.

It all boils down to how "EAGER" you are to fire the bulb. In any event Id be working on getting a replacement. Its up to you if you wanna see what the 1000W looks like (id be too impatient to wait). I personally dont believe anything is really at risk. But that is always a possibility

Allow me to add: Provided that you take safety precautions. This line MUST be on a circuit breaker, preferably one close to the ballast 1000W is a lot of power, and a short circuit, even a momentary one is no laughing matter. If the live is shorted to the case of the capacitor, it may work, but you'll be in for one HELL of a jolt if you touch it while grounded elsewhere.

From a safety standpoint, I think the best bet is to leave it alone, but if you take proper safety precautions, you could try it.

hold on what are proper safty precautions.

ive electricuted myself before but that was with only a 250w mh ballast, so i dont really wanna get electricuted

Make sure you have circuit breaker (you should have one for the PJ anyway) or a fuse system installed.

Make sure your not touching anything when you turn the power on.

Basically in the event that the cap is shorted to ground (dont see how that would be possible, because the caps are in series with the lamp), you want to make sure you dont get hurt.

Also make sure you dont touch the capacitor in anyway, even after to remove power.

basically, chances are fine that no damage will result to anything even if the capacitor is faulty, however you always wanna be safe, and not bring harm to yourself.

scuba: I was more concerned that the case of the capacitor would be shorted to LIVE, and that if he touches it, he could become the path to ground.

Rubber gloves. Rubber soled soes.