# HID ballast noise normal?



## Henry_A (Jun 16, 2010)

Hi!

Yesterday i finally after 3 weeks got my 35W HID ballast and the normal 2 bulbs for about 32$ so its now totally ok to start to playing with HID without getting in to a economical breakdown for buying one.

It all worked just fine as to lit up a supernova in the room but one thing i dont know if its ok or not is that the ballast have a constant not really low hum or so but more a little higher pitch sound from it that ofcourse is from the switching in some way. I thought these ballast should be more or less totally quiet so that suprised me a lot.

Just when it fires up the bulb, no matter if it hot or cold, so is it totally quiet for about 1/4-sec but after it starts to make this sound. The sound is stronger at start of a cold bulb but getting lower when it heated but still absolutely audible.

So is this sound normal? I have heard both yes and no so i dont know if i should send it back or not but maybe someone here might know if this is normal or not?


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## superjoe83 (Jun 16, 2010)

i have never "heard" a completely quiet HID ballast, they all make noise, some more than others and usually are the loudest when first striking the bulb


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## Patriot (Jun 16, 2010)

All of mine produce some amount of audible sound.


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## kramer5150 (Jun 17, 2010)

superjoe83 said:


> i have never "heard" a completely quiet HID ballast, they all make noise, some more than others and usually are the loudest when first striking the bulb



... me too.


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## Henry_A (Jun 17, 2010)

Ok thats really good to hear, thanks guys! And now when i also took out the circuitboard to be able fit it all in a (to) small flashlight casing and started up the lamp so was the noise much lower. It had actually been some kind of resonance that made the sound much higher and in the flashlight casing later on i guess it wouldnt be audible at all.


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## Ra (Jun 19, 2010)

Then I propably am the only one with a completely silent ballast.. (Auerswalt)

Or my ears are dying on me... 

Then again, my other ballasts do make the noises you speak of.. 


Regards,

Ra.


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## dudemar (Jun 19, 2010)

Ra said:


> Then I propably am the only one with a completely silent ballast.. (Auerswalt)
> 
> Or my ears are dying on me...
> 
> ...



I also noticed the Auerswald ballast is silent. At least the one in my Xenide 20W.


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