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Replacing ballast in old light fitting - advice from those that know please sought!

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hi everyone

Wow, it's been some time since I was here.... it's all changed! I've not been doing a huge amount of electrical work of late, although now. have a conundrum which I can't seem find out the answer to.. so of course I though of you all. Fingers crossed.


I have a client who is VERY attached to an old light fitting. Its a fluorescent. Having replaced both tubes and starters, its still not working (there is power) so I'm thinking to change the ballast. However, all the replacements seem to be HF which don't require starters. Would it work with the starters? Or would I have to rewire the light to by pass them?


No lighting supplier has proved helpful in answering my query but hopefully someone here can help me out.

many thanks

BB



  • Yes it will work.

    The light fitting  will need re-wiring internally though, bypassing the old switch starters.

    Just follow the directions on the new HF ballast.

  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Hi Richard

    Thanks for that - so I'll need to take the starters out of the equation, which should be fairly straightforward to do

    thanks again for a helpful and speedy reply!

    BB
  • It's pretty straightforward.

    It's been a while since I've done one, but the connections to the lamp holders are printed on the ballast.
  • seconded on the straight forward - if you have the no and wattage of the original tubes to hand, it should be possible to find the wiring instructions and suggest a suitable the ballast now.

    Assuming you do not need emergency light functionality, dimming, computer control,  or operation off DC supplies, it is simply a case of an  L and N go in, and wires to the tube caps come out, the only important part is to get the pairs of wires to the tube end caps for the heaters correct.

    If you don't it tries to put the 150V or so for the tube (complete with brief starter twitches of over 1kV, so do not try to measure this with your best meter) across the heater, and about 6V that should have been for a heater across the length of the tube, and this sort of error is not good for the ballast or the tube.


    The other problem is that the existing internal wiring will almost certainly not reach and if it does it will  not be the right diameter for the funny push fit terminals. Allow extra time for this.
  • Former Community Member
    0 Former Community Member
    Hi Mike

    Thanks for that. There are 2 x 15W T8 tubes, so I think this one should be OK
    https://www.lampshoponline.com/control-gear/hf-ballasts-non-dimmable/tridonic-pc-t8-pro/tridonic-pc-2-18-t8-pro.html


    I was assuming that I could just cut and join together the wires that go 'into' the starter sockets so bypassing them...and yes good idea to allow extra faffing around/swearing time when the cables are too short!


    Cheers

    BB
  • I;d say that is as good a one to use as any , Tridonic are pretty reliable,  and indeed if you follow 'click here for wiring diagram ' link , it actually tells you what wiring you need to do, and it really is that simple.

    We will ignore the fact that you are probably invalidating the warranty and CE marking of the original lamp....

  • mapj1:

    We will ignore the fact that you are probably invalidating the warranty and CE marking of the original lamp....




    Methinks that Mike has his tongue firmly in his cheek. Don't forget that even the Europeans didn't have CE marking until 1985. ?


  • Chris Pearson:




    mapj1:

    We will ignore the fact that you are probably invalidating the warranty and CE marking of the original lamp....




    Methinks that Mike has his tongue firmly in his cheek. Don't forget that even the Europeans didn't have CE marking until 1985. ?


     




    Well, he is actually correct. But unless the light is being used for emergency lighting, I would say that it isn't too much of a problem.

     

  • And I too agree it is a non-issue in a case like this. If you were buying in bulk old fittings, and refitting them and then selling them on, it may trouble the scorers, this won't.

  • BrucieBonus:

    I have a client who is VERY attached to an old light fitting. Its a fluorescent. 



    I don't see anyone being attached to an old fluorescent fitting, unless it's an excuse for not redecorating or it's misuse of superglue. An LED variety is much preferred for many reasons. 


    Jaymack