https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7031&pos=0&pid=206879

This is a picture of the ballast from my R175M and if you look closely, the coils are starting to blacken a bit and it is getting progressively louder each time I run it. It smells after I have run it and the ballast gets extremely hot when I run it. Is this a sign that it is going to burn out? I am gonna change the ballast for my own safety with a 175 watt MV/175/150 watt MH ballast.

Probably, I am gonna keep it and try to rewind it whenever I have more knowledge of things like that.