why was the igniter removed? make sure you get an AE igniter or you might damage the ballast since not all igniters are created equal.

I don't know, that's just how it arrived. Yes i was planning on getting an AEL ignitor, they are frequently available on ebay.

did the seller tell you about the lack of one? if not you should get some money back for it for unfair advertising. jus watch the igniter from your light end up being listed on ebay by the seller.

Nope. I doubt the seller knows anything about lights so I wouldn't expect them to know. Not a big deal IMO.

The missing ignitor is probably why this light got stored for the past 20+ years instead of being used.

Ballast appears to be bad (CWI). Can't seem to figure out why.

Hmm, does it hum or do anything when you plug it in? Could be a bad cap if the ballast hums or has voltage at the outputs.

Doesn't hum but if I touch the core I can feel a slight vibration. Checked input voltage at the ballast taps and its getting voltage. Capacitor seems OK. Getting bizarre readings from the output from the ballast.

did you wire the igniter right? try lighting a MV lamp on it. 250W MV would be what i suggest but a 400W merc or 175W merc would work, just don't leve it on for too long... if the Mv lamp lights then the igniter you got is either wired wrong or isn't compatable with the ballast. if the igntier is a two-wire igniter, then it doesn't matter what the ballast is but if it's a three wire igniter, it might not work because ballast designs vary and the current delivered to the igniter migth be different.

i ordered a 250w merc so will try when it gets here. the ballast not same as wiring diagram. shows diagram for 3-wire ignitor but ballast only has 2 taps on secondary. voltage between primary and secondary ~47v. weird (...).

Odd, normally there should be a 3rd tap on the secondary for a ignitor. Maybe the ballasts then used a 2 wire ignitor? And yeah a 250w MV should test the ballast core and cap.

ok it actually works now. i literally didnt change anytthing. god damn thing has a mind of its own.

it looks like the igniter should connect at the "7" spade on the ballast and then those two loose leads behind the reflector. for a two wire igniter only use the two loose black and white wires.

i used the wiring diagram on the fixture. which is cap-9-lamp/black, and 7-7(ig)-lamp/white. now it works. but i always had it wired that way.

hmm. interesting... if you used a photocell, perhaps the photocell saw light?

shorting cap.