Fluorescent T8 Ballasts

Shimon · Sep 12, 2007

I have a fixture in my kitchen that has four T8 bulbs (32w ea) 4' long. I have replaced the ballast twice in the last year.

I checked all the wiring from the breaker to the fixture including the switch and there are no loose wires or bad connections. Currently the light won't come on. I tapped the ballast and the light flickers and then goes out.

I have been using Advance brand ballast (made in Mexico) model REL-4P32-SC. I checked online and that appears to be the right ballast for 4 T8s.

Can someone recommend a good brand ballast (preferably made in the USA) that will last longer than 6 months. Or maybe I'm missing something here on the troubleshooting side. The bulbs all work but could one be bad somehow causing the ballast to go out?

ultrarunner · Sep 12, 2007

I've got an entire Hospital with T8 Ballasts and I replace about 2 per month...

Don't know what to tell you on USA made because all of the ones I've been buying recently are made in Mexico by USA companies.

Any chance the fixture is covered by insulation and building-up excessive heat?

If your fixture is a 4 bulb fixture with a single 4 bulb ballast, you might want to try using two 2 bulb ballasts...

Grainger list 7 different Advance Brand 4 bulb T8 Ballasts. The least expensive is the REL-4P-sc at $13.42 (Grainger# 3V553 Hospital Price)

They also list several GE UltraMax Ballasts for 4 bulb T8 applications

Inspector507 · Sep 12, 2007

Make sure it's grounded well too.

RonMar · Sep 13, 2007

If you are tapping the ballast and the light flickers, that would indicate to me a poor connection. Are these solid state/instant on electronic ballasts? I would bet that the components are running too hot and weakening the solder connections to the circuit board. You might try splitting it up to two 2 bulb ballasts as suggested. 2 ballasts will at least have more surface area for the same load and should run cooler. Have you tried going back to the manufacturer/supplier? I bought five new 2 bulb T8-electronic shoplights last fall. Two have failed outright, one needs to be thumped to startup and the two I connected to the garage door are still working great. It seems a shame to have to redesign something, and I used to be leary of it in all but the most extreme cases. However I find myself having to do it more and more due to inferior components. Gotta love lowest bidder labor/parts and planned obsolescence...

Shimon · Sep 13, 2007

Thanks for the replies. I liked the idea of using two ballasts for two bulbs each. Went out and bought two higher quality (industrial) ballasts and installed them both. No more cheap ballast for me. We'll see how long they last.

As for them being properly grounded...they are but I don't see what difference that makes. The grounding wire is only a backup path to ground in case the neutral can no longer provide a path to ground. So as long as the ballast is properly hooked up to a hot and neutral I don't see how a ground wire would make a difference (unless there is a short or the neutral is broken). Correct me if I'm wrong.

Inspector507 · Sep 14, 2007

Some lamps need to be within 1/2" of a grounded metal surface or they won't start properly.

Shimon · Sep 16, 2007

Inspector507 said:
Some lamps need to be within 1/2" of a grounded metal surface or they won't start properly.

Well, the ballast is screwed into the sheet metal frame of the fixture which is grounded so I guess that fits the bill.

Anyway, took apart the old ballast and on the underside of the circuit board, one of the solder joints was burned which went to the transformer all the way on the left of the photo. See photos.

RonMar · Sep 16, 2007

Good pics. I would call that overheated. Probably a poor solder joint to begin with and a higher resistance connection that generated more heat. This becomes a downhill slide with more heat deteoriating the connection and generating even more heat. An overloaded ballast, not really designed well for it, driving 4 bulbes instead of 2 could have contributed. You might be able to clean up and reflow/resolder that connection.

One thing I have done quite a lot of is survey power panels with a thermal imager. This will show bad connections, bad circuit breakers and jumpers/conductors in the panel before they completely fail. You can also see these kind of problems before they start to discolor the board. Wish they wern't so expensive. You can learn a lot about how healthy a power panel and circuit breakers are functioning with a simple non contact infared thermometer.

I have worked on many high power LORAN transmitters over the years. I have freaked out quite a few trainees by walking into the transmitter room, sniffing the air and telling them to find the bad circuit breaker then switch transmitters so we could replace it. I could pick out the slight smell the bakelite/polycarbonate breaker material gave off when overheated.

Shimon · Sep 16, 2007

RonMar said:
You might be able to clean up and reflow/resolder that connection.

I won't bother with that. I switched over to two ballasts to distribute the load. This one is headed for the trash heap along with all the other poorly made junk.

RonMar said:
One thing I have done quite a lot of is survey power panels with a thermal imager.

Do you use something like this? I've been trying to get the place I work to buy one but I think it's about $7k.

RonMar said:
I have freaked out quite a few trainees by walking into the transmitter room, sniffing the air and telling them to find the bad circuit breaker

Now, that's pretty good!

RonMar · Sep 17, 2007

Yes, something similar, only not that small. That looks like a nice one. If it is a factory environment, one smoked panel, emergency repairs and the downtime involved would most likley cost more than that scanner...