Thermography on Lighting Ballast

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Nardie

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North Augusta, SC USA
So, several months ago I had two ballast that failed basically due to age, over 30 years old. The lights were off due to a lockout to perform unassociated work. When the lockout was removed, and the lights repowered, that's when the ballast failed causing a little flame and smoke to be emitted. Understand the lights in this area are always on, there is no light switch. So, my facility manager thinks that performing thermography on ballast will prevent this, which I disagree with. In my opinion, the ballast failed due to age and a change of state, i.e, being off then being on. I don't believe performing thermography on ballast will prevent this situation, especially in a facility with probably more than 5,000 lights. Just wanted some other opinions on this to help convince the facility manager this isn't needed. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
 
Nardie said:
So, several months ago I had two ballast that failed basically due to age, over 30 years old. The lights were off due to a lockout to perform unassociated work. When the lockout was removed, and the lights repowered, that's when the ballast failed causing a little flame and smoke to be emitted. Understand the lights in this area are always on, there is no light switch. So, my facility manager thinks that performing thermography on ballast will prevent this, which I disagree with. In my opinion, the ballast failed due to age and a change of state, i.e, being off then being on. I don't believe performing thermography on ballast will prevent this situation, especially in a facility with probably more than 5,000 lights. Just wanted some other opinions on this to help convince the facility manager this isn't needed. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
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I would agree. Waste of time. Besides, at that age they should be planning a wholesale replacement.
 
How much will it cost to rip out the ballasts and install LED tubes? And how long will it take to recoup the expense due to lowered electrical bills? Probably a lot less than another 30 years!
 
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