Burnt Ballasts

[solis]

Recently found I eight light fixtures 2 per pole all ballasts were burnt to a crisp. The Breaker was tripped, but after disconnecting all the lights, it reset. No evidence of lightening, the customer asked why this happened. I said I would ask if anyone knew.
Any idea's?

 

[Sierrasparky]

wrong lamp?

 

[Electric-Light]

wrong lamp?

Wrong lamp/ballast pair, improper capacitor (if needed) or wrong voltage taps if it happened to more than one and there is no lightning or neutral loss events.

I bet they were recently installed or someone worked on them not too long ago.

 

[electricalist]

Do the lamps still work?

 

[jeremysterling]

Its hard not to blame lightning for this.

 

[Little Bill]

Recently found I eight light fixtures 2 per pole all ballasts were burnt to a crisp. The Breaker was tripped, but after disconnecting all the lights, it reset. No evidence of lightening, the customer asked why this happened. I said I would ask if anyone knew.
Any idea's?

That will trip a breaker and give you heart burn!

 

[electricalist]

That will trip a breaker and give you heart burn!

Is it possible they can tip abreaker before they go bad.?
A customer called and said breaker trips after about 30 min.on 4 lights that were all on, but only 3 worked when I got there.

 

[kwired]

The thing that doesn't make sense is how they all fail at same time unless it is improper voltage/connected to wrong voltage tap or a lightning event. Lightning probably would see other items effected as well, unless these lights is about all there is to have any damages.

Wrong voltage tap will show up fast if you mess up with 120 vs other taps, but using the wrong 208, 240 or 277 taps could result in the thing working but will take some time to burn out. Supply the unit with nominal 208 but is running near 215 - and it may run a very long time if connected to the 240 tap, supply it with nominal 240 but is running near 250 - it may run a long time if connected to the 277 tap - many of these units are set up for 277 as shipped - maybe the installer didn't pay close enough attention to what tap was used?

 

[Electric-Light]

Do the lamps still work?

What do you think? They appear to be internally exploded

 

[electricalist]

Sorry I hadnt looked that close.
I have seen quite a few that the whole thing had blown out, but I dont know if they were from bad ballast.
Someone stole the #8 s from pole to pole.

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using Tapatalk

 

[Electric-Light]

Sorry I hadnt looked that close.
I have seen quite a few that the whole thing had blown out, but I dont know if they were from bad ballast.
Someone stole the #8 s from pole to pole.

Sent from my SPH-D710BST using Tapatalk

The arc tube is glowing orange hot if you ever look at it shortly after the power is turned off. Excess current means excess power... it gets even hotter and glass will eventually rupture.

Traditional ballasts are very durable. Unlike electronic LED ballasts, they only fail if they get hot enough to char the insulation or gets enough over-voltage to flash over. To lose that many ballasts all at once has to be incorrect voltage, wiring or ballast/lamp/cap combo.