Emergency 2 x 2 Troffer light

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goldstar

goldstar

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Location
New Jersey
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Electrical Contractor
Got a call from a commercial customer that has a 2 x 2 troffer that was out. She tried to replace the lamps but the light still didn't work. So, I'm thinking this is an easy service call and I had a ballast in my truck and stopped by. It turns out that this was an emergency fluorescent fixture with this ballast in it : https://www.amazon.com/Lithonia-Eme...29373&sprefix=lithonia+pos1400,aps,134&sr=8-4 . I'm thinking there might be another ballast inside the fixture. I didn't check to see because the wiring entered the side of the fixture where this ballast was housed. Before I spend $300+ on this ballast does anyone know if these fixtures have an additional ballast ? Thanks in advance.
 
dkidd said:
It looks like there is another ballast

http://www.powersentrysafety.com/Sta...structions.pdf
Click to expand...
Thanks. That was very helpful. My only concern is that the ballast I removed doesn't state that it is a QD or MVolt ballast. I checked on line and those are a lot less expensive than the std. PS1400 ballast. If you have a different link would you please post it ? Otherwise, I'll try to find the link to the std. PS1400 ballast installation instructions. The fixture has (2) 2' T-5 lamps
 
Yes, its typical for an emergency fixture to have a regular ballast, and a separate emergency ballast. Maybe that's even a requirement so the light doesn't go out if one ballast fails.

Some troubleshooting is probably in order. Its unlikely that both ballasts went bad. Can you turn off power to the fixture? If so the EM ballast should kick on. That means the regular ballast may be bad. If not, maybe there is still a lamp issue, or maybe the emergency ballast has already ran the battery dead.

Also, did you check to make sure the fixture has input voltage at the ballasts? Some engineers specify fuses for emergency fixtures, so it could just be a blown fuse.
 
steve66 said:
Yes, its typical for an emergency fixture to have a regular ballast, and a separate emergency ballast. Maybe that's even a requirement so the light doesn't go out if one ballast fails.

Some troubleshooting is probably in order. Its unlikely that both ballasts went bad. Can you turn off power to the fixture? If so the EM ballast should kick on. That means the regular ballast may be bad. If not, maybe there is still a lamp issue, or maybe the emergency ballast has already ran the battery dead.

Also, did you check to make sure the fixture has input voltage at the ballasts? Some engineers specify fuses for emergency fixtures, so it could just be a blown fuse.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. I went back today and opened the other side of the fixture and found a std. ballast for (2) T-5 lamps. Don't know why I didn't check that to begin with. That's far less expensive than an emergency ballast. Supply house didn't have one though so I ordered one. Thanks for your input.
 
I'm re-activating this thread because I had another commercial customer that happens to be across the hall from the original one. It's a dental office and each of (5) dental patient areas had (2) 2 x 4 drop-in troffers. Each troffer has (2) 4'-T-5 bulbs and one of the fixtures is an emergency fixture. About 4 months ago one of the troffers wouldn't light. I did some testing and decided to change the std. ballast and not the emergency one. That worked until recently. I went back yesterday and checked the voltage at the std. ballast and saw there was 120V coming into the ballast. This is a 277V lighting system. Thinking it was the std, ballast I changed it out but the light wouldn't work. So I traced the internal wiring and found the white wire was not connected to the neutral of the 277V power but was connected to a white w/ red tracer in the emergency ballast. I made the change to the input neutral and the light still did not illuminate. After even further investigation I found that the lamp wiring went through the emergency ballast. I disconnected the emergency ballast and wired the std. ballast directly to the 277V line and the lamps illuminated but the emergency ballast would not illuminate the one lamp.

All that said, does anyone have experience with this ballast :

Lithonia PS1400QD MVOLT - Fluorescent Emergency Ballast - Battery Backup Pack | Energy Avenue

A fluorescent battery backup pack and emergency ballast, check the Lithonia PS1400QD MVOLT - Power Sentry. Order now at EnergyAvenue.com!
www.energyavenue.com www.energyavenue.com

I called several colleagues and tech support at the supply house and none of them could tell me if the std. ballast was dependent on the emergency ballast to operate properly. I don't do a lot of this type of service work so working with these types of fixtures is new to me. Thanks for any help or opinions you can provide.
 
Thanks. What I was actually looking for was if anyone had some experience with these ballasts. From the wiring diagram it looks like the neutral of the std. ballast gets connected to the white w/ red tracer of the emergency ballast (I'm guessing that's a pass-thru neutral internal in the EM ballast). The emergency ballast has a constant 277V connection to it. Somehow the neutral on the white w/ red tracer was not present at the std. ballast and I'm guessing there was an internal problem with the emergency ballast whereby the neutral became disconnected. This happened on another fixture in the same office as well. So, I'm asking whether anyone else has had this problem and is it a typical problem with this ballast ?
 
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