These outdoor flood lights blink, flash on/off or go out entirely when they are defective. Sometimes it appears to be a defective lamp, while other times the ballast will need replacement. These new ballasts have the capacitor glued directly to the transformer. The manufacturer clearly wants you to spend your money on more replacement parts than may be necessary.
Is there an easy way to tell just by observation alone which component is bad? In other words, does a bad ballast Vs a bad capacitor or lamp have different behavioral characteristics?