troubleshooting *OLD* ballasts.....

[Fulthrotl]

these would be T-12 fixtures with a ballast and a starter.

my experience with these usually is limited to removing them
and throwing them away, but now they have to be fixed.

here's what's happening:

put tube in fixture with fixture powered up, tube starts to
fire, and flickers till you remove the starter, then burns
normally.

when power goes off, tube obviously won't relight till you
put the starter back in, and then the process repeats.

any suggestions on what is going on from the guys who've
had to deal with these a lot?

this is one of those "why keep it?" response type things,
i understand. but there is a whole battleship full of them,
and the powers that be have more pressing things to
deal with, like.... well, like a lot of things... those of you
who own boats, take your upkeep costs, and extrapolate
them to 900' long, and 55,000 tons.

anyway, any insight would be appreciated... thanks.

 

[Rewire]

Replace the starter would be my first guess make sure the starter matches the wattage of the lamps.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I go with that too. You could just replace both and make it easy, but starters are probably cheaper.

After I thought about it, can't you just replace both with a newer style ballast? Not every fixture with F40T12's had a starter.

 

[hbiss]

If they are not willing to replace the fixtures, you would be doing them a favor by replacing the ballasts with electronic as the fixtures die. Replace the tombstone lamp sockets too. It makes no sense to keep playing around with starters and old non-thermally protected ballasts filled with PCBs. They are a fire and health hazard.

-Hal

 

[Hv&Lv]

I like these Advance booklets.
Check out page 40
http://code-elec.com/content/00/01/53/48/38/userimages/fluorescent ballast troubleshooting guide.pdf

 

[Fulthrotl]

If they are not willing to replace the fixtures, you would be doing them a favor by replacing the ballasts with electronic as the fixtures die. Replace the tombstone lamp sockets too. It makes no sense to keep playing around with starters and old non-thermally protected ballasts filled with PCBs. They are a fire and health hazard.

-Hal

the fixtures are very compact, and contain three 2' lamps.

there is no physical location to place a compact electronic ballast,
as they are under the end plates under the tombstones.

my thought was to remove the center lamp, and place an electronic
ballast in the center of the light, wiring it up as a two tube fixture.

i'd hate to remove the tombstones. they have bales on them to lock
them to the lamps and prevent them jiggling loose with motion.

i have no idea what vintage these light are, but they are the proverbial
brick poophouse in construction. the plastic lenses are about 5/16" thick,
and aren't yellowed at all. i'm guessing late 50's, early 60's.

but the writing is on the wall. how long before T-12's aren't available any
more? i think migration to two 2' T-8's and an electronic ballast in the
center of the fixture would be the most logical solution.

there is an order of battle to the battle... ship needs new mooring lines,
and that is six figures or thereabouts.... in the meantime, the lines need
snugging, manually.... so it looks like my cable tugger may get pressed
into service as a line snugger... i'll have to tell maxis there little bitty
tugger pulled a battleship... they will be so proud....

 

[Fulthrotl]

I like these Advance booklets.
Check out page 40
http://code-elec.com/content/00/01/53/48/38/userimages/fluorescent ballast troubleshooting guide.pdf

thank your for those.... they will come in handy

 

[rt66electric]

How do you get the really cool jobs?

How do you get the really cool jobs?

How do you get the really cool jobs?

 

[Lost_RFTech]

How do you get the really cool jobs?

Volunteer........ Sorry, couldn't resist!

 

[PetrosA]

I agree - the symptoms indicate bad starters. I also agree that retrofitting with newer lamps might be a better option unless "historical accuracy" is a factor, in which case you may literally want to buy a "boatload" of spares . Starters are still used in most countries outside the US, so I think they'll be around for a while. Any chance of a photo or drawing of the fixtures, with ballast placement visible?

 

[Bang]

As everyone has already stated before, it's a starter. Just had to add my two cents!

 

[cowboyjwc]

the fixtures are very compact, and contain three 2' lamps.

there is no physical location to place a compact electronic ballast,
as they are under the end plates under the tombstones.

my thought was to remove the center lamp, and place an electronic
ballast in the center of the light, wiring it up as a two tube fixture.

i'd hate to remove the tombstones. they have bales on them to lock
them to the lamps and prevent them jiggling loose with motion.

i have no idea what vintage these light are, but they are the proverbial
brick poophouse in construction. the plastic lenses are about 5/16" thick,
and aren't yellowed at all. i'm guessing late 50's, early 60's.

but the writing is on the wall. how long before T-12's aren't available any
more? i think migration to two 2' T-8's and an electronic ballast in the
center of the fixture would be the most logical solution.

there is an order of battle to the battle... ship needs new mooring lines,
and that is six figures or thereabouts.... in the meantime, the lines need
snugging, manually.... so it looks like my cable tugger may get pressed
into service as a line snugger... i'll have to tell maxis there little bitty
tugger pulled a battleship... they will be so proud....

Now you left out that little piece of information on your first post.:happyyes:

 

[Fulthrotl]

Volunteer........ Sorry, couldn't resist!

shh... don't tell him... it's a secret....
i get all the really kewl jobs cause i do them for free.

actually, it's funny... the port is having a hairball with accounting for
parking, so unless you wish to park in BFE, you get to pay for parking..
a buck an hour.....

sure, i'm gonna save that buck an hour by parking on the street in san
pedro, with $40k in stuff in the van..... good value there.... what could
go wrong?

 

[Fulthrotl]

Now you left out that little piece of information on your first post.:happyyes:

that's why you need to saddle up and volunteer... so you can see
firsthand, and report back....

since when did you start trusting a C-10's description of *anything*?

"hey, i saw it with my own eyes before the sheetrock went up, and
everything was fine.... just sign my rough walls, ok?"

 

[GUNNING]

wired wrong

wired wrong

The starter is in series with the ballast. Sounds like the fixture has been fixed before and the wiring has changed. Has someone replaced the ballast with a newer one? Read the directions and rebuild. Try the workhorse 8 ballast they are small and compact and will work with 3 f20t12 lamps.
http://horse.fulham.com/customer-service/wiring-diagrams/

 

[cowboyjwc]

that's why you need to saddle up and volunteer... so you can see
firsthand, and report back....

since when did you start trusting a C-10's description of *anything*?

"hey, i saw it with my own eyes before the sheetrock went up, and
everything was fine.... just sign my rough walls, ok?"

My wife and I just got done doing 5 days at Simi Valley Days, her in charge of the ticket booth and me in charge of security, week before last. Then I just got done doing one day of security Saturday for a music festival and then next week we start a three weekend stint (Fri-Sun) working the Ghost Tour at the local historical park. Now we used to do all that and I was president of the local Little League and a coach and umpire and she was the axuillary chariman. Volunteer is a dirty word in our house right now.:happyyes:

But I would love to come down and see it. Maybe you could send a fake invite and then I could come down on a work day.