MH ballast amperage draw???

[nos2074]

Ok so I read somewhere (don't remember where right now) that a magnetic MH ballast draws about 6 amps. Well mine are electronic ballast (250w) which are suppose to be more efficient. I was wondering if Magnetic ballast really do draw about 6 amps what do the electronic draw?

 

[Eric]

My 400w Icecap ballasts draw 3.45 amps.

 

[Eric]

I also have two old magnetic 175w ballast 1.8 amps on those, I was trying to find the amp rating on my custom sealife ballast but the sticker is long gone.

 

[kapu]

I recently replaced my dead 250W mag ballast on my Current USA Sunpod with a Lumatek adjustable e-ballast. I made some measurements using a Kill-a-watt, running a single Phoenix HQI bulb (de).

The ballast alone draws 2.58A for a power consumption of 312W. That's in HQI mode. Regular 250W mode draws about 10% less - 277W / 2.27A. My light timer draws 2.2W, the daytime LEDs in my fixture draw 2W, and the fixture fan draws 11W. So the entire lighting package draws a total of 327W at 2.71A when the HQI is burning (8 hours a day).

I never measured the mag ballast and it is dead now, but I think 6A is seriously on the high side for a nominal 250W ballast. I've seen reports more like 350 to 375W, which is closer to 3A, assuming 120V. 6A at 120V would be 720W. I don't think any ballast is that inefficient. Maybe that number was for a higher wattage fixture?