8 vs 10 wire, 2 bulb, T-12 ballasts?

[JHZR2]

Looking to replace an old 8 wire T12 ballast, and the replacement has 10 wires.



Changing to a ballast that shows two options but has 10 wires.



What’s the reason to move to a 10 wire ballast? Does it matter for T-12 bulbs? If one were to wire it up as only an 8-wire, would it not work?

Will such a ballast rated for T8 and T12 affect life of the T12 bulbs? I still have a lot of T12 bulbs so I’d like to use them. I recently replaced a ballast for an 8’ single post two T12 light fixture and it worked great. But the wiring was different.

Thanks!

 

[LarryFine]

Will the new ballast be for T-8s or T-12s? (I would never wire new for T-12s.)

 

[electrofelon]

I dont think Ill ever replace a ballast again. LED line voltage tubes.

 

[LarryFine]

I dont think Ill ever replace a ballast again. LED line voltage tubes.

I thought I had added a line to my last post stating almost exactly that.

 

[Little Bill]

Only reason I would replace a ballast is I'm semi-retired and have a bunch of ballasts I need to get rid of!

 

[electrofelon]

Recently put some new fixtures in for a client. Not too many, like 30 2 tube 4 footers. The fixtures we ended up liking came with ballasts. WE took them right out, and rewired the lights for LED line voltage. You can have the pile of new ballasts if you want!

 

[hbiss]

Had to replace some 40w T12 U lamps. Only thing that stopped me from replacing them with LEDs was that I would have to do all the fixtures in the room to make them look uniform.

As to the OP's question. That's a two lamp F40 T12 fixture. Probably the most common fixture in the US. Where did you get that ballast? If you are sure that the ballast is for two F40 T12 lamps, take the old ballast out and wire the new one to the lamp sockets according to the diagram. The 8 wire configuration matches the old ballast. (I assume it can be used as 8 or 10 wire). Cap off the brown leads.

-Hal

 

[norcal]

Only reason I would replace a ballast is I'm semi-retired and have a bunch of ballasts I need to get rid of!

I had a bunch of 2 lamp F40 takeouts that were sitting around but otherwise good, the whole lot went to the scrapyard this summer, same with a lot of HID ballasts, took 1670 pounds of ballasts & motors too, good riddance.

 

[roger]

To the OP, please update your profile to include your occupation.