Mag Ballast Testing

[dahenley]

Hello,
I have some older PFO 400W ballasts, and i was wondering if there was a way of testing them to see how good they are working?
they work, but i feel they dont give off enough power for the bulbs, because my PAR readings are a little down.....

is there any testing, or will replacing the capacitor re-energize the ballast, or should i just toss them and replace them??

 

[zigzag1]

I would just test with a known good bulb, and run them for about an hour or two. If they are going to fail, they usually show it by then. It may fire the bulb initially then go out after the bulb warms up. But, I've always just tested with a used bulb that I knew was good, as they are cheap and easy enough to find that they aren't worth much more trouble than this, IMO.

 

[dahenley]

They are currently running on my 240, but I can't tell if they are working up to par or not. I'm not sure if i should keep them, or trash them and replace them with new ballast. That's what I'm more or less asking