I put my 100w fake Westy into my abolite, which is decked out with a new universal ballast. I noticed it wasn't working. I checked the connections and they were good. The ballast was buzzing. So I put a real Westy, and voila, it works! It turns out the starting probe melted into the glass. The lamp still works on a pulse ballast. Few questions tho:
Why is it yellow, is it components of the glass combining with the metal or contaminants?
Is it the ballasts fault? The new Westy I observed was used previously in my 100w NEMA and it seems to have a nearly obliterated probe but starts up fine.

Probe melted into the quartz looks more like faulty lamp itself - maybe shorted resistor, contaminated quartz, missing electron emission material reservoir.

Less chance I see from a ballast overdriving the electrodes (could be too high crest factor, that is faulty ballast) - to verify this, you would have to check the arc current, mainly it's shape (using an oscilloscope; better use some transformer for an galvanic isolation, otherwise you would need not grounded oscilloscope)

I dont think there is any emitter coating on the probe - For the short time it takes to start the main arc who cares if it rectifies at the moment of starting ?

Was the ballast NPF (no capacitor ?) If so are crest factor problems even a possibility ?

I dont think there is any emitter coating on the probe - For the short time it takes to start the main arc who cares if it rectifies at the moment of starting ?

Not the probe, but when the main electrode lack the emission coating it is designed for, as a consequence it runs way hotter than the lamp is designed for.
And the problem would be then the radiated heat from the main electrode, melting the nearby starting probe not designed for such heat it receives.


For the HX autotransformer and crest factor: There is one fault, which may lead to such problem: Magnetic shunt being thinner than designed (missing plates in the stack inserted between the windings).
I don't know, how exactly the ballasts are made to ensure the correct final current, but if the process involves "tunning" of the load current by inserting more/fewer of the plates into that stack (to compensate for the gap size variation), once they pick accidentally too long plates (so it left narrower gap; just wrong gauge, e.g. intended for other ballast model on the same base core size), they may reach the rated final current on the adjustment jig by just inserting thinner stack.
So although the final current at the rated voltage would seem to be OK, mainly during the lamp warmup the shunt will heavily saturate and cause high current crest factor.

If the ballast is tested using only single (typical rated hot lamp) load simulator (you can not use real lamps for ballast production tests, at first it won't survive longer than a week and seconds, it's parameters would vary way too much) and single fixed voltage, such test is not able to detect that error.

I've been using the fake Westy on the same ballast ever since I put it in use and it is on a CWA ballast. The ballast is a quality made mid 90s universal, that's neatly wound instead of sloppy like yardblaster ballasts are.

The ballast is a quality made mid 90s universal, that's neatly wound instead of sloppy like yardblaster ballasts are.

The fact these ballasts uses to be quality made does not exclude an error leading to a defective batch reaching the market.
It won't be the first time, when an attempt to make the final parameters more precise causes the defects or errors to easily hide from the final quality check.
And because cheap maker wouldn't bother with the accuracy, this quality flaw is more likely to hit the makers aiming for better, not really cheap products.

Anyway it is just one hypothesis from many and it was more an answer to Ash's question - if that would be the case, most lamps on this ballast will likely exhibit shorter life...

I just took the abolite out of service and put the 100w NEMA bucket up. I think I'm time I'll get a 70w MH Ignitor and use the two faulty lamps by that. I'll put the MH ballast in the abolite and then inspectigate the universal ballast.