Yes the MOT trips the breaker often and on a 20 amp breaker. The transformer gets very hot in a matter of minutes and so hot it burnt my hands. It runs solely on saturation. It is inefficient and even when I turn it down with my 30 amp variac, it still gets somewhat hot and the output voltage is a little too low. It works, but takes about 5 minutes per 6 inches to burn. Even when the voltage is lowered, there still is too much current. A ballast is sort of like a transformer because it outputs around 600 volts AC open circuit. I know it is more like an inductor, because it limits current, but. I know this reply is all random, but I'm trying to answer everybody. 