It seems like lately there has been a lot of negative comments (such as in this thread) regarding the reliability of the E-Ballast sold in the LumenLab store.

I'm just about ready to purchase all of the lighting equipment, and was planning on getting the E-Ballast, mostly because it's what Brain sells, he says it's good, and the wiring is very simple.

If it's going to flake out after a few weeks though, then I would much rather go with a coil and core ballast. I'm just curious of these horror stories about bulbs not striking with the E-Ballast are a really common issue, or are just a few rare exceptions.

Also, I've never really seen any solid recomendations regarding what coil and core ballast models are really good and realiable and where to get them. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, is the wiring with the coil and core ballasts that much worse? In the pictures, it looks like they have a butt-load of wires coming out of them. Actually doing the wiring is easy enough, but I've never seen any wiring diagrams on this forum that give detailed instructions about how to wire them (is this because they are all different?).

Thanks a lot.

I am not sure what "acceptable" is but I have been pretty lucky *knocks on wood* so far.

Mine strikes everytime, the bulb takes ~90 seconds to reach peak brightness.

I run it in 2-4 hour sessions (a movie and some gaming). Once I get the XBox hooked to it and have a permanent resting place/room (late July), I think usage will increase to 4+ hours when I setup a media room.

I was blessed with less problems than some have reported.

it doesnt have anything to do with the E-ballast that brain sells, but rather E-ballast in general .... They simply just arent as reliable as a transformer coil ballast ..... (I keep calling it a transformer cause thats all it really is .... a transformer and a large cap ... )

the size and weight are never really a factor when you think about it .... because these PJs are large as is .... and they arent exactly portable so weight shouldnt be an issue for most of us ... even though im sure its burden when trying to hang on a ceiling ....

in my next PJ im using a m135 coil ballast, but instead of putting it inside the PJ, I made an outboard power supply case that will hold that ..... that way I can make quick and easy changes in the future with any new bulbs that recquire new ballast by just opening my Power supply case and not having to open my PJ case ...

If size, efficiency, and weight aren't an issue and you wan't a less complex, and more reliable solution, then go with a coil. It'll cost you a lot less too. The wiring isn't difficult. If you're building a portable with a small display, then it may be worth it to go with an eballast.

don't forget about noise.
The e's are silent and some coil/caps can be very noisy.

And I would bet about 90% of the ballast that crapped out were from user error like my case, I mounted mine in the case and even though I thought I had good shielding and cooling I am 100% sure my ballast fell victim to heat. So my unit is now a coil driven monster hehe.

What's a good site to buy a coil ballast from, and what's a good model? I really know nothing about them, I'm assuming that they are compatible with the bulb that sold's here on the LumenLab website?

For the s400dd bulb sold by lumenlab if you were to grab a coil ballast you would need a s51 hps ballast.

Advance(company name) ballasts are often sold prewired. I think that it is an option that you pay a little more for. If you can find a distributor for Advance ballasts try to get a prewired one. When buying a coil ballast, you want to match the ANSI rating on the lamp. As MrWaxhead said the ANSI rating for the S400DD lamp is S51 (that is a 400W high pressure sodium ballast).

I like this thread as it give us a chance to hear about success with the eballast as it is probably the case that we only really hear about the few that have been a problem. Keep the good stories coming.

Same here, my eballast runs fine, strikes up an s400dd within seconds, and only gets a little warm hanging out of my enclosure. Brain and co would know for sure what the rma % is, which i'd wager is low. I'll also wager that when someone has a problem with their equipment, they'll probably come here and post it.

Perhaps some solved their issues by changing bulbs?

Oh yes, Lots of success. My eballast has worked flawlessly so far. Stricks in about 5 seconds and a few minutes to get to full brightness. I've mounted mine in an enclosed space (under the main PJ box) and use a small 486 processor cooling fan to draw air thru the compartment to take heat away from the cooling fins on the eballast.

It seems somewhere I read a post where someone had pictures comparing an eballast and coil ballast, and I liked colors that came from using the eballast. (not very scientific but that's how I ended up choosing an eballast)

Don't forget, these forums give you an insight into LumenLabs inner workings. If Company X had forums for custmers to post complaints for products they had problems with, it would be full of negative comments and would leave an impression that their products were crap, even if only a few % were actually bad.

I have not read a single post stating that LumenLab was not willing to replace someone's faulty eBallast, so that should be of some assurance if you go the eballast route.

Good Luck with whatever you choose !

cheers,
gs

Mine works fine as well. I have my e-ballast mounted in the front of my haas-style enclosure. It keeps relatively cool compared to the back of the box where the lamp is.

It usually starts to light up in about 10 seconds once I flip the power switch and comes to full brightness in about a minute or two from there.

I consider myself a satisfied e-ballast customer


cheers,

-J

p.s I was still surprised how heavy it was. If this is "light" I can only re*coil*(har har) at the thought of the weight of the c and c ballasts..

I would really like to find out what brainchilds thoughts are on this subject. Not being A** or anything but if these things don't work for their intended porposes we need to get something worked out after all the only reason alot of people bought them was on what was said by LL. If they don't work I know that a hundred bucks for me is really hard to swallow. I haven't put mine in yet and I'm going to put it in its own box away from the lamp but for $100 it should last for alot longer than a couple weeks. Just my thoughts.

My Lumenlab eballast has been perfect since day one. It sees about 10-12 hours of use every week. Fires up every time without problems. Easy to wire too. If I were to ever build another projector I'd order another one.

I've had my eballast installed since about January 05 and it is working fine.
I do have it mounted on the outside of the enclosure and so far have not had any problems with it.
Al E

90%????? NO way. Maybe 20% but even then they aren't exactly hard to install.

Like some have said, my eballast fired right away the first time, now after only 1 month of testing/tweaking it's gotten much worse.

I'm not sure if I'd buy one again, if coil and core is tried and true I may go that route if I build another.

Eballast's could be prone to issues like some have said, it could be the nature of the beast, there are other Pulse Strike ballasts out there and I'd like to hear from them.

A couple of comments: I have yet to complete my pj but have an Electical Engineering degree from Berkeley so take this for what it is worth - which, considering the degree - is probably not much...

Solid state electronic components HATE heat. The more current runs through a solid state device, the quicker it begins to deteriorate. These e-ballasts are relatively high power devices, and as such, will require active cooling. It is very rare that solid state power circuitry can be passively cooled with just a heatsink - over time it will deteriorate. Because of this, I am going to place my e-ballast external to the case (cooler), with 2 80mm fans mounted on it (active cooling). The fans will be at reduced speed so, hopefully, noise will not be too much of an issue. If it is heat that is killing these ballasts, the active cooling should prevent failure - time will tell.

On the other hand, it could be a manufacturing defect (or deficiency) of the actual e-ballast. If this is the case, then no amount of cooling will prevent eventual failure. Hopefully, Brain did his research on this company before deciding to stock their product. Given the level of research he has shown in other matters, I am confident this is the case.

Another thought: I have heard that the MH bulbs benefit from a break in period upon first striking the lamp (not sure about this). How many of you who are having problems with the e-ballast, left the lamp running for an initial "break-in" period? I'm planning on leaving it lit for 15 hours on the first run just to avoid possible problems later...

As a closing thought: there is no doubt that a coil ballast is more reliable than an e-ballast. Mechanical devices are almost always more reliable than their electronic counterparts. If you can deal with the extra heat, wiring complexity, size, and possible buzzing noise, go with the coil. If you like a small form factor, convinience, and easy hook-up, go with the e-ballast.

Enough sweeping generalizations for one post - I'm done

Mine stopped working after about a month of light use. It would blow the fuse every time I flipped the switch. Wiring was a-ok. Turned it off one night and the next night it came up with this symptom. I now have an IceCap on an S400 and dig'n it!

I had thought about active-cooling for the eballast but ultimately decided against it. With active cooling there comes another factor to consider: dust buildup. I didn't want to deal with dust entering the holes of the eballast enclosure, and worsening the heat problem in the long run.

I decided to give convection cooling a try, i mounted the eballast sideways outside of the enclosure. In the horizontal position cool air would enter through the bottom vents and warm air would exit via the top vents. Aesthetically a i feel a vertical mount looks nicer but that mount would impede convection cooling a tad. I may mount a volt-modded 50mm fan to it, good for 10cfm's, but it seems ok without it so far.

hmmm brain no reply? thats not a good sign. i just got mine last week and i would hate to have wasted my money. brain can u please give us some info on this subject?

Brain posted a note that he is on vacation till the 22nd.

Have had my e ballast up and running since April. Have gone through 1 bulb but no problems with ballast. Mounted outside the box (search in Projects "Hunchbackers Movie Machine") and loving it. PJ is usually on 5-6 hours a day. My kids do homework, movies, games and MYspace on it. Easy to wire and quiet.

I think hunchbacker has just described for all how to prevent your eballast from not working.

Leave it on for long periods of time! Thats what it's designed for!