Author Topic: Westinghouse OV-50 1KW MV Ballast Capacitor Specs  (Read 103 times)
ElectroLite
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Westinghouse OV-50 1KW MV Ballast Capacitor Specs « on: September 13, 2026, 07:25:57 PM » Author: ElectroLite
Hey all, I recently acquired 3 Westinghouse OV-50 1KW MV Fixtures. I bought them off of a guy who had them in a big pile of scrap on his property. He bought the land 15 years ago, but said all of that was left there from the previous owner... posts and everything. He was just in the process of finally putting stuff on the land, and wanted to get rid of the poles he had, and was gonna throw out the fixtures. I asked if I could buy just the fixtures, and he agreed!

They have seen better days, that's for sure. Only one of the three had an intact lens and slipfitter hardware, and another had been gutted to be converted to 400w MV sometime in its life. Only two still had their original ballasts, and both were completely bypassed! I have now taken apart every one of them, selected the best parts, and am going to assemble 2 good fixtures and scrap/part out the third one. Not sure where I'm gonna get a replacement glass, but I do have several OV-35s that I can steal a lens off of... if it takes the same glass.

Unfortunately though, since they were sitting in a big open field for many years, water has pooled in the capacitor fin and ruined the capacitors beyond recognition. The terminals literally just rusted off. I have tried to look for any kind of marking on them and even tried to take a measurement, but was unsuccessful with both. They have all gone open circuit.

Does anyone have one of these fixtures with the BIG old ballast still in it, and would be so kind as to check the value of the original capacitors? There were two big capacitors in each, wired in parallel to add up. Pictures below for reference... light bulb for scale! (I was unable to attach the images. The site just timed out.)

Thank you!

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wide-lite 1000
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Re: Westinghouse OV-50 1KW MV Ballast Capacitor Specs « Reply #1 on: September 13, 2026, 07:35:04 PM » Author: wide-lite 1000
https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=5198&pos=361&pid=157821 This MIGHT help you .
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Re: Westinghouse OV-50 1KW MV Ballast Capacitor Specs « Reply #2 on: September 13, 2026, 10:20:29 PM » Author: Multisubject
Which kind is it? H34 or H36
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Re: Westinghouse OV-50 1KW MV Ballast Capacitor Specs « Reply #3 on: September 13, 2026, 10:46:33 PM » Author: wide-lite 1000
 Neither , Mine is H-35 700w.  In the comments there's a bit of discussion regarding capacitor values for different wattage setups. Not sure if it applies to vintage factory ballasts or not but the modern H-36 ballasts I have have between 20uF and 24uf total .
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