54 watt lamps on 32 watt ballasts

[Sefous]

I currently have a customer who purchased some high bay t5 fixtures. The ballasts are for 32w lamps, and the guy put in 54w high output lamps. Are the ballasts going to hold up with those higher wattage lamps, or does he need to change them to the recommended lamps on the ballasts? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[Sefous]

Haha, sorry for the duplicates. A bit impatient.

 

[Ponchik]

I don't think they will hold up.

Call the ballast manufacturer and they will confirm one way or another.

 

[jumper]

Haha, sorry for the duplicates. A bit impatient.

New members initial posts have to be approved by a moderator before they will be allowed.

 

[gar]

141028-1432 EDT

I can not answer your question. However, some basic theory.

A ballast in reference to a fluorescent bulb is a device to provide an approximately constant current under varying load conditions.

A fluorescent bulb is a gaseous discharge type of device. This is an approximately constant voltage load.

If the voltage drop across the bulb is about the same for both the 32 and 54 watt bulbs at the constant current level of the 32 W ballast, then the ballast is not likely to be damaged. Whether the bulb filaments get warm enough at the lower current may make a difference in bulb operation.

Note: the use of the word approximate. To the extent this is not true might be important. I would want to run experiments to see how the different bulbs actually operated.

.

 

[iwire]

I currently have a customer who purchased some high bay t5 fixtures. The ballasts are for 32w lamps, and the guy put in 54w high output lamps. Are the ballasts going to hold up with those higher wattage lamps, or does he need to change them to the recommended lamps on the ballasts? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Strictly speaking it is an NEC violation and I would tell the customer to put the right lamps in.

Will they hold up? I don't know. I suspect that if one ballast type could work correctly for both lamp wattages they would be marked as such.

I suspect the 54 watt lamps are not as bright as the should be running on a 32 watt ballast.

 

[GoldDigger]

It definitely will defeat the ides of high output lamps.

 

[stardust]

Contractor installed 54 watt T5 HO lamps in fixture with 28 watt ballast. All lamps burned out within 3 months.

 

[Sierrasparky]

I currently have a customer who purchased some high bay t5 fixtures. The ballasts are for 32w lamps, and the guy put in 54w high output lamps. Are the ballasts going to hold up with those higher wattage lamps, or does he need to change them to the recommended lamps on the ballasts? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

I don't think they will hold up.

Call the ballast manufacturer and they will confirm one way or another.

Strictly speaking it is an NEC violation and I would tell the customer to put the right lamps in.

Will they hold up? I don't know. I suspect that if one ballast type could work correctly for both lamp wattages they would be marked as such.

I suspect the 54 watt lamps are not as bright as the should be running on a 32 watt ballast.

It definitely will defeat the ides of high output lamps.

Contractor installed 54 watt T5 HO lamps in fixture with 28 watt ballast. All lamps burned out within 3 months.

sounds like the verdict is in
I don't know why anyone would do this and then wonder if it will work. Oh yea the manufactures label is just a suggestion and other combinations will work just fine. See they just change the label and mark up the price. ... . . . :slaphead: