Ballast Problem

[Little Bill]

I replaced a magnetic ballast with an electronic ballast today. The new ballast was an Advance RELB2S40SC. It is for either F40T12 or F34T12 and is a rapid start. After turning it back on the lamps lit fine, but about 2 or 3 minutes later I heard a noise and the lamps went off. I then smelled an electronic burnt odor so I turned everything off and opened up the light. The smell was definetly coming from the ballast. I checked all my wiring/connections and everything looked ok. I figured I just got a bad ballast so I went back to the SH and exchanged it.

Got back and put in the new(replacement) ballast. Double checked the wiring per the diagram on the ballast. Everything was correct so I turned power back on but I left the cover off to make sure everything worked before putting it back. The lamps lit and I left the cover off for a few minutes. They stayed lit so I turned off the switch, removed the lamps and put the cover back. Put the lamps back in, turned switch back on, lamps lit, everything fine.
I stayed around a while with the light still on to make sure before I left.

About 2 hours later, I get a call from the HO saying the light went off again. He said he heard something, maybe a hum, so he went to check and the lamps were not burning.
He said not to come back today but tomorrow maybe.

Question is what might be the problem with these ballasts? I wouldn't think I would get two defective ballast in a row. Anyone have any suggestions as to what might be happening or what to check? As I said, I've already checked the wiring and it is wired correctly. I didn't check the voltage because I didn't see a reason to, but I will check it tomorrow.
Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Michael15956]

My first suspicion would be a voltage problem, Bill.

 

[copper chopper]

why didnt you change it to t-8 ballast and lamps?
voltage, also the way the sockets are wired may be differnt than the magnetic version.

 

[Little Bill]

why didnt you change it to t-8 ballast and lamps?
voltage, also the way the sockets are wired may be differnt than the magnetic version.

I didn't change to T8 because the HO didn't want me to. I suspect he has a stock pile of T12 bulbs.

As to the socket wiring, it is the same and is wired correctly. Went by the diagram on the ballast, checked that the sockets/tombstones were correctly wired, all were correct.
I also pulled the diagram up on-line for that ballast and it was the same there also.
I always check when changing from magnetic to electronic. Some of them have to be changed but most don't unless you're changing lamp types.

 

[kbsparky]

Bad/junk ballasts.

 

[andyselec@aol.com]

I agree with Michael , voltage issue. Could be speed wired and have a loose neutral somewhere causing a voltage flucation.

 

[Little Bill]

Got another ballast and before installing it I checked line voltage and tombstone connections. Everything looked good so I put in the newest ballast.

So far everything works fine. I suppose you can chalk it up to Advance ballast made in China!:rant:
The last one was made in Mexico.

 

[Electric-Light]

1.) Are you certain that you're not shorting any of the leads at each socket by miswiring or using shunted sockets?

2.) If you run T8 lamps on a T12 electronic, the ballast will severely overload. If this is what you did, then this is what killed it.

Try a different brand.

Ballasts are supposed to be able to accommodate live lamp change.

My experience with that particular model of Advance ballast is that they'll fail when lamps are removed and reinserted with power on. The protection is poor.

I've verified this bench testing with a few of those and I was able to kill every one of them.

There are only two applications for T12 4' electronic ballasts.
- Specialty lamps that do not come in T8s or cost prohibitive, such as blacklight.
- Commercial installs where you must spot replace some ballasts

In the future, just replace with F32T8. If it's got two ballasts (3 or 4 lamp) use a 4 lamp ballast.
as they support 3 or 4 lamp.

Stocking 120-277v F32T8 4 lamp and 2 lamp ballasts should accommodate 99% of 2-4' 1-4 lamp fluorescent calls. Those two are the "carry in truck" ballasts.

 

[Little Bill]

1.) Are you certain that you're not shorting any of the leads at each socket by miswiring or using shunted sockets?

2.) If you run T8 lamps on a T12 electronic, the ballast will severely overload. If this is what you did, then this is what killed it.

Try a different brand.

Ballasts are supposed to be able to accommodate live lamp change.

My experience with that particular model of Advance ballast is that they'll fail when lamps are removed and reinserted with power on. The protection is poor.

I've verified this bench testing with a few of those and I was able to kill every one of them.

There are only two applications for T12 4' electronic ballasts.
- Specialty lamps that do not come in T8s or cost prohibitive, such as blacklight.
- Commercial installs where you must spot replace some ballasts

In the future, just replace with F32T8. If it's got two ballasts (3 or 4 lamp) use a 4 lamp ballast.
as they support 3 or 4 lamp.

Stocking 120-277v F32T8 4 lamp and 2 lamp ballasts should accommodate 99% of 2-4' 1-4 lamp fluorescent calls. Those two are the "carry in truck" ballasts.

See Post #7 above. Put in a 3rd ballast, different model, different store, but same type, still for T12, just laid out a little different.

Light is working now.