In my recent haul, there were included 3 GE NEMA fixtures with ballasts. One of those has a damaged ballast (broken winding) which I may attempt to fix later on. Meanwhile, the other 2 I cleaned up and let them run until hot, then applied class H transformer varnish. At first, they ran rather loudly but afterwards, there is absolutely no audible hum or vibration at all.
Repaired ballasts are dated CG and MG (3-71 and 12-71).
I think he gets it from work. Apparently varnish is classified as a hazardeous material by shipping companies unfortunately so to buy some online or something would mean it would have to be shipped specially.
Yeah I got it from work. My boss has a friend that works for 3m and he was able to get some then let me take some home. It has a long curing process though, which means it has to get hot in order to properly harden. I have to run the ballasts for a good while before the odor is gone but it doesn't bother me. The only thing is when I put the ballast into a NEMA head, it gets hotter than when it was on the table top so excess will melt/drip off onto the lamp. I always use a cheap lamp to run it for the first hundred hours or so but doesn't hurt the lamp....just a pain to scrape off, lol.
Also, I can order class F from Allied Electronics since we have a work account. I did order some of that but haven't tried it on a NEMA ballast yet. Class F is a lower temp and probably easier to use though, and yes, it has to be shipped in a certified container.
Interesting, I know my local electronics place sells a tub of transformer varnish but I believe theirs is a lower temp...probably class F. Still might try it on some noisy choke and HID ballasts I have though.
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Also, I can order class F from Allied Electronics since we have a work account. I did order some of that but haven't tried it on a NEMA ballast yet. Class F is a lower temp and probably easier to use though, and yes, it has to be shipped in a certified container.