Thanks! The ballast ha a noticeable buzz but it's quieter than some of my other lights. My GE M-250R, M-250R1, OV-15 silverliner, and the McGraw-Edision 175W MV NEMA are all louder than this. This is probably about as loud as my OV-10IB was before I painted the ballast (it did quiet it down, but I don't recommend it because the paint doesn't soak into the coils like the varnish; it just coats the outside and acts like a blanket, making the ballast run hotter. I didn't know this at the time though. But the OV-10IB runs pretty cool so I don't expect it to be a problem.
Looking good! I wonder if putting some real varnish on would work. I never tried it myself but I heard it's fairly messy and the light stinks for a while after.
Do you have to remove the old varnish first? Yeah I've never done it before so I wouldn't want to ruin the ballast by trying to revarnish it. But On the other hand, these ballasts were sorta known for shorting out as the red paint-like varnish chipped away, leaving the bare coils to touch.
Yeah Westy lights in particular look good with the tall ripleys. Especially the OV-15s. The RMAs look good with them too and so do GE M-250Rs. I like the silver ones with the tall white Ripleys and the gray ones with tall blue Fisher Pierces.
Wow cool. As for the ballast, the class F spray-on might be easy enough to use. I bought some but havent tried it yet. The class H is the nastiest to use, as it needs the heat to actually cure. For a few days it stinks while ballast runs and the excess melts off and leaves a gooey mess. But once cured, it's like bullet proof, lol.
LOL I guess at some point I will give it a shot. Does the old varnish need to be removed first for the new varnish to be effective (like is typical with loose/peeling paint) or can the new varnish just be applied right over the ballast as is?
I may carefully knock off anything really loose with a stiff nylon brush ...varnish flakes, dead bugs, dirt, and remove any rust from the core. But other than that, I just soak it on. I usually do it when the ballast is hot from operating....which makes the varnish get really thin and soak right in, sort of like how solder soaks in well with properly heated wires.
Ah I see. Makes sense. Thanks for the pointers. Would hate to loose a red-varnished Westy ballast! It's too bad the red varnished Westy ballasts didn't really use good varnish. It always seems to peel off like paint. The transparent brown varnish seems to hold up better.
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I want one of these. Is the ballast quiet?
A tall Ripley would look nice on this too, if that's what you meant. I have two tall Ripleys. One is "tanned" brown by the sun lol.