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View Full Version : how to identify PFO ballast model number?


jamesnmandy
02/26/2008, 05:10 PM
I bought a PFO single 250W ballast off of a fellow member. It has a clear label on the top with boxes that could be checked as to show which model it is. Thing is, I see no checked boxes. I cannot tell for sure which it is. He said it was an electronic HQI ballast, but after looking at it closely there are 4 possible types of 250W ballast this could be:

AQ1-250MH
AQ1-250HQI
AQ1-250PS
AQ1-250EYE

as seen here
http://www.pfolighting.com/AqBallasts.aspx

Thing is, if I look hard enough, it almost looks like there was a check next to the AQ1-250EYE, which according to the PFO site is a "Mercury ballast designed to operate the Iwasaki lamps optimally"

of course, it could be me looking too hard at it....but if it is the EYE, is there any problem running a non-Iwasaki bulb on it?

i opened it to repair the broken switch, actually i just made a permanent connection since the ballast will be controlled by a timer anyways, but it looks to me to have huge magnetic plates with coils in the middle...which seems to me would make it a magnetic ballast, not electronic....

help

PaulErik
02/26/2008, 05:24 PM
It is a magnetic ballast. If you opened the ballast enclosure the ballast coil will have a label on it. This label will have an ANSI code listed on it.

ANSI M58 = AQ1-250MH

ANSI M80 = AQ1-250HQI

ANSI M138/M153 = AQ1-250PS

ANSI H37 = AQ1-250EYE

If it is an AQ1-250EYE ballast it is not designed for any metal halide lamps other than the Iwasaki Clean Ace 6500K retrofit lamp. It is actually a mercury vapor ballast. Standard metal halide lamps are not compatible with mercury vapor ballasts. Metal halide lamps have a slightly higher electrical specification to operate reliably. The Iwasaki Clean Ace lamps have a special starting circuit built into the lamps so they will light reliably on mercury vapor ballasts.

jamesnmandy
02/26/2008, 05:35 PM
wonderful, as you were typing i took the ballast apart to look for another indicator....photo being uploaded now.... H37 EYE Mercury Vapor ballast.

Here i was thinking i was crazy, the seller sent me a Phoenix 14k HQI bulb with it that i thought was surely busted because all it will do is try to start and then go out

so i sent my wife 45 minutes away to get a new bulb, so gas + $75 for a new HQI DE 250W bulb that I now know i cannot even use on this ballast and really did not have in the budget, but unfortunately i sold my other fixture and had to ship it out as soon as this one came in, so now my tank has no light at all......wonderful....

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d116/jamesnmandy/PFO%20ballast/DSCF2007.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d116/jamesnmandy/PFO%20ballast/DSCF2008.jpg

freaking great, wonderful....i need to PM the seller and find out if they intend to make this right or what....

jamesnmandy
02/26/2008, 06:06 PM
guys, just to follow up, i am waiting on a response from the seller, a member here, but to try to get headed in the right direction::

is this the ballast internals i would need to swap this one out?

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=165

looks like this is exactly what would be inside the PFO HQI ballast, same brand, make and everything, so i should be able to order this and replace the guts and be done with this fiasco right?

PaulErik
02/26/2008, 06:12 PM
PFO uses that same Advance 71A5880 ANSI M80 ballast for the HQI 250-watt ballasts. That ballast would work perfectly and is designed for double-ended metal halide lamps.

jamesnmandy
02/26/2008, 06:51 PM
Thanks Erik! and good news from the seller...

he offered to refund my cost to replace the guts and declined my offer to send the H37 ballast internals back

unbelievably wonderful customer service from TimSalty!!