Hi, I have a few linear style HID ballasts that say " may also be used to excite an incandescent standby light of XX watts maximum" (wattage varies according to the rating of the ballast) my questions are how would this wire up (not shown on the wiring diagram) and would it work like a standard quartz re-strike lamp ? I have some old 400w MH hi-bays from work that have quartz re-strike lamps in them but they have a separate re-strike module inside along with the ballast. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks!!

Usually on 120v mains, you connect the module supply in parallel with the ballast supply. On higher voltages, you use the the 120v tap instead of the mains because the incandescent lamp is 120v only. In either case you need a restrike module. You shouldn’t use the 120v tap continuously when the ballast is used on high voltages because it will overload it. The module makes sure that the incandescent lamp extinguishes when the main discharge is sufficiently warm to give enough light.

Thanks sol !

Thanks sol !

From what I've encountered the restrike module is simply a relay, the lamp is wired into the NC side of the relay and when the lamp restrikes the current also goes through the relay making it open the circuit and extinguish the incandescent lamp.

Yes, that is the simplest design. The ones I've seen were timed so when the HID strikes, the incandescent lamp stays on for 60-90 seconds to assure the discharge lamp emits sufficient light to be usable even if not yet at full output and colour. The timed ones also light the incandescent lamp for the delay when the fixture is turned on even if the discharge strikes immediately.