Varilite VL2000, VL2500 - 700W Ballast tips

[Frankyrocha]

Hello there to everyone on this group.
I own several Varilite VL2000 and VL2500. From time to time, there's a ballast that blows up. Even keeping them clean peridiocally, they fail sometime...
I was wondering if someone here could suggest any tips/suggestions to make some modifications in those 700W old open type ballasts, so the become more reliable.

Best Regards to all.
Franky Rocha

 

[Amiers]

Heat.

However a ballast has a certain number of strikes before it just can’t anymore. You can’t stop the inevitable.

 

[Les]

Are your failures situated around ballasts that are as old as the fixtures, or do you have new ballasts failing too? I have known commercial electricians who replace ballasts during every relamp cycle (usually in a retail environment) but those ballasts see a hard life -- no fan cooling, and sometimes 24/7 operation.

The only things I can think of (most of which are obvious) are replacing lamps before their life expectancy is up, as well as making sure all fans are clean and working. No hot re-strikes, etc. I have no proof, but do have a hunch that making sure your PFC capacitor and ignitor health is acceptable will extend ballast life as well.