I have a couple ballasts from the 60's that still work fine, lucky enough they still have the watt rating on it for the bulbs. Do yours have the white ceramic back with the oval fixture all mounted together?UPDATE: I checked out the date on the back of the ballast..........fuckin 1989! I gave dude a high dose of ebay mail and hes sendin me a "new" one with new cables. we'll see how it acts. as for now my 12 children are in the cool northeast sun with enough warm weather to last till shipment...wish me luck!