IC 400W MH ballast anomoly

[Sparkss]

Last month we bought an IC 400W MH ballast and 400W bulb from Marine Depot to compare it to our existing 250W HQI ballast/bulb combination. For that reason we only bought 1 400W ballast at that time. It arrived at the end of the week. We liked the outcome and general output of the ballast and bulb so the first of the next week we ordered a second ballast (and bulb). That one arrived on Wednesday. Here is the part that made me rather concerned. The first one was all blue and looked clean and new. The second one, ordered 5 days later, was silver and appeard to have quite a bit of oil on the exterior. I hooked the second one up and it fired and everything "seemed" to be fine, but I am starting to question that both are outputing evenly. They have been running for 3 weeks or so now, since I wanted to see if there was going to be any issues. I also thought to "just let it go" since IC has such a good reputation and we have had many years of great customer service experience with Marind Depot, but then I thought to wonder why it happened at all, owing to that same reputation.

Ok, so enough of the long lead in, my question is : Did we get sold a rebuilt ballast as new ? (IE: The second, silver/oily ballast). Was this something that happened due to an IC policy or a MD one ? I am also posting this in the Ice Cap forum.

Thanks

 

[IceCap Service]

I can easily see your concern but there is nothing to be alarmed about. The outer case recently was changed. It used to be silver but now is blue. This just happened a short while back. What has happened is you happened to order at the transition point where Marine Depot was getting the newer blue ones in stock and still had the silver ones also in stock. When your first order was filled it appears the one packed was a blue one and your second order you got one of the silver ones.
As for operational characteristics, they are one in the same. As the older stock is depleted they will all be blue in color.
One added note - Neither Marine Depot or Icecap deals in refurbished units. They are all new when leaving Icecap and the same applies to Marine Depot.

 

[MarineDepot]

Sparkss: Thanks for voicing your concerns. Marine Depot does not sell any remanufactured, refurbished or used products.

Steve
Marine Depot Customer Service
714.385.0080 Phone
714.385.0180 Fax
www.MarineDepot.com
customercare@marinedepot.com

 

[Sparkss]

I will likely buy a 3rd ballast, just to have 2 Blue ones for mounting, and keep the silver one as a backup. It may sound silly, but putting the silver one up next to the blue one just looks fugly. Aesthetic only, but still an annoyance (sort of like half of the labels on the Vortec drivers being on upside down... nothing to prevent them from functioning, just annoying). But I will wait until the current stock runs out to avoid any further issues. Not to mention that it is obvious why they switched to the blue exterior.. it is much "prettier" than the silver one .