HID Automotive Ballast

[East West]

Has any of you used automotive HID . Those stickers with the skull and cross bones must be there for a reason . I asked this question before and got some brainy answers. They did not answer the question of getting zapped by 400 volts . I have mutiple bulbs and ballast for one huge 250 watt light .

 

[antero]

Sure: Picasa Web Albums - ARY (tehre are more pics in the gallery)

When it is already burning 50W high voltage transformer is fed from the ballast with only 85V. I have had ballast and high-voltage coil separate on 2.5 ft cable - ballast in canister and coil in the lighthead. Everything worked ok. However I never experienced what happens when it gets compromized.

 

[fppf]

I'm always a bit worried when I see these remote ballast designs.
Open load voltage for most ballasts is around 300-400 volts. And they can provide a pretty good boost of current at those voltages, needed to start the lamp.

Yes you could use automotive systems, others have already, but you need to be extremely cautious. Automotive ballasts are designed to "hot strike" the bulbs, doing this puts much more stress on the bulbs and requires much higher ignition voltages from the ballasts. Automotive ignition voltages get up to 20,000 volts.