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I have this ballast in my car for Xenon lights. One of the bulb needs replacement and i checked online for the new HID bulb and found out that there are two types (AC and DC)of Ballast and bulbs. I’m not sure if its a AC or DC ballast that i have installed in my car. I was expecting some specs mentioning output types but can’t find anything specific. See the attached imageenter image description here

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  • Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! Are there any markings on the bulbs which are attached to the ballast? They may say whether they are AC or DC on them.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Dec 24, 2023 at 17:21
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    I don’t know a great deal about these, and I believe there are a lot of false claims out there, but the fact that the label says “Frequency 250 Hz” would suggest it has an AC output. 250Hz is also a similar frequency to other AC units out there.
    – HandyHowie
    Commented Dec 25, 2023 at 9:09

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An AC ballast is the type used in fluorescent lighting like you would have in your home. The input is AC and the output is also AC.

Because the input is DC this is a DC ballast. Although technically it is closer to an inverter because DC is converted a crude variation of AC or pulse DC. Essentially it is photo flash unit on steroids.The 250 Hz is the flicker rate which is fast enough not to noticed by the human eye.

The output of this is about 23KV which is required to start the Xenon gas in the strobe tube and probably refers to trigger pulse. The 10 max current is very brief high current when the flash is triggered. Once triggered and the Xenon gas is conducting the current drops to the normal current.

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The ballast that you have requires DC power input only. It requires minimum of 9V DC, and the maximum of 18V DC power. Your car battery will be able to handle this.

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