I listened to the LFS now My ballast is gone

[Pain Devine]

I went to the LFS and asked the clerk "Do you have any T12 24" 20 watt bulbs? I want to get some 10,000k" She proceeded to point to 18mm tubes. I said "Aren't those T8's? They won't fit my ballast." She said "Look the pins are the same, they fit just fine." So I bought 1 to try it out before I bought more.

Well... it worked fine this afternoon, but when I got home from work it wasn't working anymore. Now, the ballast doesn't do anything at all. I had 3 normal bulbs and 1 18mm. I can plug the bulbs into a different ballast and they are just dimm... but if I jiggle them around they start working.

I soooo wanna kill someone... this REALLY sucks. I had planned on getting live rock soon but I can't afford a whole new light system AND the rock.

 

[Pain Devine]

To make things worse, I just read my Ballast's manual and it says that it's rated for the exact same bulb that I had plugged into it. Why does this stuff always happen to me?!?!? gah!

 

[afilter]

Not sure how old or what type of ballasts you have, but I was having a similar problem when I put in new bulbs. They would work off and on and seemed dim. I then noticed the starters were not lighting. I replaced the starters and now they work great. You might want to check into it. About a $4 fix for me.

Good luck,

 

[Pain Devine]

I have a single 4x electronic ballast. What's a starter? My ballast doesnt have one in the schematic.

 

[afilter]

Not familiar with your ballast, but a starter is a small device that looks like a fuse that provides a spark for you ballast to light the bulbs. My All glass Twin tubes have two each.

Hang out here, these guys are great and might have some other suggestions. BTW I work in Madison, and if you cannot figure it out feel free to e-mail me and I would be happy to take a look and see If I can help.

HTH,

 

[Pain Devine]

anyone else have any ideas? These ballasts arent exchangeable so I'd like to have an idea what happened before I sink more money into it.

 

[William]

I'd it to the LFS and raise hell until they either gave you the money equivilant.


Tell them that it was their advice that led to the damage and that they should not have people that do not know what their talking give advice, and if they won't satisfy you right here and now then the next time you'll see them is in court

 

[Pain Devine]

yea... but I dunno what happened yet. What if it was the ballast? Anyone know if putting a 17watt T8 in along with 3 20watt T12s would ruin the ballast?

 

[reefrunner69]

I don't think so...is the ballast rated for 80W OR 8 ft of bulbs?

What is the manufacturer of the ballast?

 

[Pain Devine]

It's a GE B432l120rh
4 lamp instant start electronic ballast

It ran for about 48 hours on the 4xF20T12
Blew in under 4 hours after I installed a F17T8

 

[loganj]

My guess, and this is just a guess, is that you have a dud ballast. I'm using several Sylvania Quicktronics which are about the same thing as you had. They have operated flawlessly for almost a year running PC's. Did you notice if the ballast was getting hotter than usual? You should be able to run about any bulb up to 32 watts on each circuit. You can double up the circuits and operate higher wattage bulbs as well. You can even oversize the bulbs. They just won't burn as brightly. You can buy the Quicktronics at Lowes for about $30 or so for the 4x32. You might also look into a Fulham ballast although the Workhorse 5 is basically the same thing as the Sylvania 4x32. I think you just got a bad ballast. Did you check all the connections? Are you using the waterproof VHO style endcaps? The regular endcaps are bad about failing in a SW environment. A couple of corroded connections can shut the whole thing down.

 

[Pain Devine]

yea, it may be that... but think about it... it ran for 48hours just fine... I plug in this new bulb and 'poof' Also, I tested the new bulb in an old magnetic ballast I had left over and now ONLY the side I put that light in doesn't work anymore... unless I put a light in the other one at the same time. That makes me think it blew out the starter... But I don't really know much about floresents and there don't seem to be any websites dedicated to the subject so I'm outa luck.

 

[Pain Devine]

Ok, I just plugged the new 'death' light into the working side of the old magnetic ballast... it's working right now... I'm going to bed... We'll see if it's blown the ballast when I wake up in the morning. I planned on tossing it anyway, so at least it'll serve a perpose before it meets the dumpster.

 

[Pain Devine]

Well, it's still working... guess it must ahve been the ballast... damn, it was brand new to...

 

[BillyZ]

you stated the ballast wasn't exchangeable, if it's brand new why can't you exchange it?

 

[loganj]

Just a note...the ballasts you are using don't use starters. They are instant start and the start circuit is inside the ballast.