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Replacing a Ballast
Sterica
YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
YesRegistered User, Moderator mod
The ballast in my kitchen has gone bad, and a few days ago I worked on replacing it. At first things seemed fixed: everything lit up (some lamps taking a bit longer than others), but after a few minutes lamps started going out or flickering and I began to smell burning. So obviously yeah, turned that shit off ASAP.
My set up is two 2-Lamp T12 electric ballasts for four lamps in total. Yes, I am aware that T12s are being phased out and T8 are the cool new thing, but I didn't know this when buying replacement ballasts and honestly I'd rather not go through the chore of disconnecting all the wires in order to exchange the ballasts. I'd like to see if it's possible that something beside a ballast is cooking. Here is the wiring set-up:
x 2 because two ballasts.
Black boxes are connectors, which is my first thought for things going wrong. Hey maybe I shouldn't be putting four wires in a single connector? Wiring could also be a problem, obviously, but I followed the diagram on the ballast itself and sadly there is very little visual aids for wiring a T12 since just about every guide is for T8s or transitioning from a T12 to a T8. Guess how I found out I done fucked up? Also, maybe I got neutral and/or hots crossed and they're going to the wrong ballasts?
Sockets are another concern, as upon inspection some are fairly fucked up but they worked beforehand so I'm not sure if that's a possible cause of something overheating. I also considered the bulbs being the wrong wattage but they match the 40 watts the ballast claims so I dunno. This is my first repair job like this so honestly I'm just happy the fixture didn't explode, but I would like to have a functional light.
My set up is two 2-Lamp T12 electric ballasts for four lamps in total. Yes, I am aware that T12s are being phased out and T8 are the cool new thing, but I didn't know this when buying replacement ballasts and honestly I'd rather not go through the chore of disconnecting all the wires in order to exchange the ballasts. I'd like to see if it's possible that something beside a ballast is cooking. Here is the wiring set-up:
x 2 because two ballasts.
Black boxes are connectors, which is my first thought for things going wrong. Hey maybe I shouldn't be putting four wires in a single connector? Wiring could also be a problem, obviously, but I followed the diagram on the ballast itself and sadly there is very little visual aids for wiring a T12 since just about every guide is for T8s or transitioning from a T12 to a T8. Guess how I found out I done fucked up? Also, maybe I got neutral and/or hots crossed and they're going to the wrong ballasts?
Sockets are another concern, as upon inspection some are fairly fucked up but they worked beforehand so I'm not sure if that's a possible cause of something overheating. I also considered the bulbs being the wrong wattage but they match the 40 watts the ballast claims so I dunno. This is my first repair job like this so honestly I'm just happy the fixture didn't explode, but I would like to have a functional light.
Sterica on
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Normally I suggest having an electrician take a look, but from first look to rewire, it's a 6k-8k type issue, and you seam pretty confident in your ability to wire it up.
From what you are saying it doesn't sound like you fucked up the install, but without looking I wouldn't be able to tell, it could be something small and its grounding out too soon or a wire is messing up along the way, maybe you got "lucky" and a rat just ate thru part of a wire. That's a cheap fix and would cause this sort of problem.
There is some older wiring I can look at, as I didn't mess with the previous neutral/hot set up which consists of like three old wires twisted together. I'll check those out, because I don't see any damage otherwise.
They make LED bulbs that fit into fluorescent fixtures now. It'd be an alternative to dealing with ballast headaches. Will probably reduce your electric bill a little bit as well.
EDIT: or did you mean LED bulbs that can go IN a fluorescent fixture?
I believe they're labeled as T12/T8/T5 but I'm pretty in the dark about the whole concept so I might be wrong.
https://www.earthled.com/blogs/light-2-0-the-earthled-blog-led-lighting-news-tips-reviews/33135492-how-to-buy-t8-and-t12-led-fluorescent-replacement-tubes
Saw them a week or so ago at home depot and made a mental note that that seems like a cool idea.