replacing ballast

[spreerider]

you should be able to put a electronic ballast in, the only difference is that they cant always run the same bulb, but you dont need to match the old ballast exactly, as long as it will fire the bulb at the end of the wire and isnt too much more powerful so it burns out the switch or wiring (only replace a 400W with a 400W or lower)
I dont know why you cant find a mag balllast, they are everywhere, every electrical supply store will have them or order them, most lighting stores should be able to get them.
The only part of the ballast is the core and coil and the capacitor, if you just need a new capacitor thats easy to get as well, but if your coil is shot get a new unit as you wont find just a core anywhere.