Maintenance person shocked while relamping flourescent fixtures?

[mdshunk]

Does 410.73(G) apply when replacing ballasts in older fixtures. Should we be installing these quick disconnects?

Probably doesn't apply to a repair operation to an existing fixture, but I have resolved to install them anyhow. Any part that you can put on the invoice with "safety" in the name of the part will not be questioned by the customer. "Installed absent ballast safety disconnect... $5.25" Along this same theme, some electricians call a GFCI on the invoice a "safety receptacle".

 

[peter d]

Yes, among the fixtures that I've been installing that have featured this disconnect from the factory...

You're getting fixtures with these installed already? I thought the ballast disconnect was an '08 thing?

 

[mdshunk]

You're getting fixtures with these installed already? I thought the ballast disconnect was an '08 thing?

Yep. Put some reflector strips in last week that were Columbia brand that had them. Got some no-name troffers a month or so back that had them in.

 

[peter d]

I wonder when Ideal is going to come out with the same connector with 4 ports (2 L, 2 N) for things like troffers with a feed in and a feed out. As it is now, they'll still have to be pigtailed with wirenuts and then go into the disconnect.

 

[480sparky]

Or toffers with two switch legs. Or with emergency ballasts.

 

[jinglis]

My fear with these new disconnecting means is will they dry up and become brittle over the years. I have seen this many times with plastic quick disconnects in fixtures. If this happens it we be less safe than not having them at all.
Back to the original post. If they were high output lamps they do give off a little hair raising sensation from touching the glass and the metal. The original post didn't say 4 foot lamps.

 

[iwire]

My fear with these new disconnecting means is will they dry up and become brittle over the years. I have seen this many times with plastic quick disconnects in fixtures.

Have you ever seen this happen in a fixture that did not get hot?

I have seen them get brittle in HID fixtures but I doubt they will get brittle in a fluorescent fixture with an electronic ballast.

Only time will tell.

 

[jinglis]

You are correct, most of the ones I have seen to date were in HID fixtures. However we are going to see them on 347 volt fixtures here. I don't think disconnecting these little things will be any safer than isolating the entire branch circuit. I am uneasy trusting these things with 347 volt.

 

[peter d]

I am uneasy trusting these things with 347 volt.

You crazy Canadians with your 347 volts!

 

[mdshunk]

You crazy Canadians with your 347 volts!

The ballast disconnects say right on them that they're rated to a full 480. I seem to remember the Ideal site saying they have the full 600V rating pending approval.

I'm not worried about them drying out and cracking. They're presumably made out of the same stuff Ideal's been making their wire nuts out of for years. They don't really seem to suffer that way in fluorescents, unless someone jammed the wire nuts between the ballast and the side of the fixture.

 

[peter d]

They don't really seem to suffer that way in fluorescents, unless someone jammed the wire nuts between the ballast and the side of the fixture.

I've seen the old style (1970's) Buchanan "B2" connectors get brittle, but they were in a magnetic ballasted strip light in a hotel stairway (operating 24/7/365).

At any rate, I think plastic technology has come a long way since then so I think those issues have been conquered.