Coralvue MH Ballasts - replace with??

[Bill S]

OK, here's the deal. 2 of the 4 400w ballasts I bought from mikeyboy have gone south. They are the silver ones. The other 2 are acting up a bit. I sent the 2 bad ones back to Coralvue. They claim that they have salt creep, and that due to Hurricane Katrina, they don't have parts to fix them. They've offered to sell me new ones at $85 each plus shipping - I can buy them at $125 elsewhere.

Should I buy these, or am I just throwing more money away. The old silver ones seem to have a lousy reputation - I opened one up, 'cause the fan had quit, and the heat sinks are held in by a handful of Office Depot binder clips!

Thanks in advance for your opinions.

[JimD]

First Id contact Frederick, (polkster13) he's a CV rep, there may be a chance they can be repaired or replaced depending on age, I had some issues wth the 250 watt version and he was able to get the problems resolved. Personaly, I like the CV e-ballasts. Ive had an older silvr one with the fans running for almost two years now with no problems. Good luck!

[alton]

First question I would ask is how old are the ballast? They don't last for ever and the older they get the less efficient they get and the less they produce. I have two of CV's 250 watt double ended fixtures with there ballast and they are OK. I also have two of CV's 175 watt electronic ballast and love the heck out of them. 85$ for a 400 watt electronic ballast (Not Pulse Start)with a two or three year warranty sounds pretty good to me.