Humming ballast

[FrancisDoody]

I have a ballast that has a loud humming sound. This ballast is in a three way lighting circuit that lights a stairwell. At the top of the stairs is a sixty watt incadescest bulb and at the bottom is the problem fluorescent fixture. Could there be a problem in mixing these two different types of lighting bulbs on the same circuit?
Thanks,
Fran

 

[luke warmwater]

Re: Humming ballast

No problem in the mixing bulbs.

It's probably a Magnetic ballast, and may also have a poor grounding connection.

You could try another Magnetic ballast, but your best bet is to install an Electronic ballast.

 

[allenwayne]

Re: Humming ballast

As i jest with homeowners .It hums because It doesn`t know the words
Awhile back there was link given in regards to this same issue and if I remember corectly 4 ft residential ballsts were at the top of the list for humming.
I didn`t know prior to opening this link that ballasts are actually rated for noise and industrial was the noisest.I`ll try to find it and post really interesting reading.
On another note early last year we were speced by a builder a particular 2 lt. 2 ft flourescent by thomas lighting,They hummed horribly loud,
I met with a Thomas customer service rep. and I couldn`t believe he told me that thier ballasts had to break in before it became a warranty issue,Time frame 100 hours of operation before they would replace under warranty :roll:

 

[luke warmwater]

Re: Humming ballast

Originally posted by allenwayne:
As i jest with homeowners .It hums because It doesn`t know the words

Ba dum, ching!

 

[allenwayne]

Re: Humming ballast

What do you do,builder supplies the fixture we install and get the call back.What do you do ???
does it light,YES.Does it HUM,yes.OK teach it the words

 

[brian john]

Re: Humming ballast

and may also have a poor grounding connection,

Why or how would this effect humming?

 

[gregory]

Re: Humming ballast

ballasts are sound rated the best being A the 8 foot fixtues are usually C rated, very noisy. they have a V shaped plate that you can put under the ballast and it will quiet them down. never put a 8 foot light in an office area, they are too noisy