Gallery of Lights


Home Login
Album list Last uploads Last comments Most viewed Top rated My Favorites Search
Home > User galleries > Mike > My Collection
Return to the thumbnail page FILE 65/86 Return to start See previous file See next file Skip to end
RESTORE FIND: Two 2-lamp F40T12/RS Ballasts These came in two beat-up fixtures. The VAL-MISER ballast came from a Genlyte-Thomas wrap light and the Advance ballast is from a slightly rusted beat up circa 1970s striplite housing with broken Y-slot sockets. I removed the wrap's lens and endcaps since i only bought it for the ballast. I tested both ballasts to find they work beautifully and put the fixture housings at the curb just in time for the trash pick-up. There was a 1960s-70s drop lens troffer there for $5 with oldish looking GE ballasts that I'm really pissed at myself for passing on. One ballast had leaked wet tar which had ruined a yellow ballast lead on the other ballast. No tar on the fixture housing. My mom said we can go back "sometime". I just hope it doesn't get bought! I'm so mad for not buying it! Even though the ballasts are no good, (well i wouldn't trust them at least,) these two ballasts could easily go inside! The troffer type thing itself is in perfect condition and was crying out for me as i headed upstairs with an armfull of adapters and lamps while my dad carried the two fluorecent light corpses. I don't even think it needs new paint! though of course me with my OCD-like personality will most likely give it a facelift this summer if it's there when i go back. No HID stuff there unfortunaly. I'm not disappointed though since i scored BIG TIME with PL adapters and fluorescent stuff in general. Keywords: Gear

RESTORE FIND: Two 2-lamp F40T12/RS Ballasts

These came in two beat-up fixtures. The VAL-MISER ballast came from a Genlyte-Thomas wrap light and the Advance ballast is from a slightly rusted beat up circa 1970s striplite housing with broken Y-slot sockets. I removed the wrap's lens and endcaps since i only bought it for the ballast. I tested both ballasts to find they work beautifully and put the fixture housings at the curb just in time for the trash pick-up.

There was a 1960s-70s drop lens troffer there for $5 with oldish looking GE ballasts that I'm really pissed at myself for passing on. One ballast had leaked wet tar which had ruined a yellow ballast lead on the other ballast. No tar on the fixture housing. My mom said we can go back "sometime". I just hope it doesn't get bought! I'm so mad for not buying it! Even though the ballasts are no good, (well i wouldn't trust them at least,) these two ballasts could easily go inside!

The troffer type thing itself is in perfect condition and was crying out for me as i headed upstairs with an armfull of adapters and lamps while my dad carried the two fluorecent light corpses. I don't even think it needs new paint! though of course me with my OCD-like personality will most likely give it a facelift this summer if it's there when i go back.

No HID stuff there unfortunaly. I'm not disappointed though since i scored BIG TIME with PL adapters and fluorescent stuff in general.

gol123112_003.JPG gol123112_004.JPG restorefinds122912_010.JPG gol1222122_003.JPG gol12212_001.JPG
File information
Filename:restorefinds122912_010.JPG
Album name:Mike / My Collection
Keywords:Gear
Filesize:387 KiB
Date added:Dec 29, 2012
Dimensions:2048 x 1536 pixels
Displayed:75 times
Color Space:sRGB
DateTime Original:2009:03:26 20:49:20
Exposure Bias:0 EV
Exposure Mode:0
Exposure Time:1/29296 sec
FNumber:f/2.8
Flash:Flash, Auto-Mode
Focal length:28.8125 mm
Light Source:Unknown: 4
Make:Vivicam
Model:V5024
URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=14412
Favorites:Add to Favorites

Comment 1 to 4 of 4
Page: 1

joe_347V   [Dec 29, 2012 at 08:42 PM]
Ooh nice! I told you Restore has a lot of lighting goodies...that drop dished troffer sounds cool. My school has some 1x4 surface mount lights like that.
streetlight98   [Dec 29, 2012 at 09:00 PM]
You were 100% correct too! At first i was following the signs to "lighting/electrical items" and all i found was household table lamps, flush mount, and outdoor house lights with the occasional undercabinet light which disappointed me. I was ready to leave when i decided just to explore the basement quickly before leaving. When i got to the bottom of the stairs my jaw dropped: a whole WALL dedicated to lighting! Then a little stash of fluorescent fixtures in a corner.

I think the troffer was missing it's ballast cover, but i did find a random ballast cover marked $5 that would fit it nicely. I think when i return I'll stick the ballast cover inside the fixture though. Laughing Why pay the same price for a ballast cover as you would for a whole fixture? Seems their prices are very randomized. Laughing come to think of it, the light could be surface mount. Reguardless, it'll be surface mounted in the garage hopefully. Since it's 4-lamp it'll give off quite a bit of light! I was hoping they'd have some 4ft fluorescents there but i only found some in a trash can and they were modern sylvanias so i just figured if needed, my local Benny's Hardware is 5 minutes from the house so i can just stop there since they sell single T12s at 1.99 and twin packs at 2.99.
joe_347V   [Dec 29, 2012 at 09:09 PM]
Yeah, Restore has a lot of random prices for stuff. I scored a 1000w MH for 50 cents once. I've also noticed that some Restores has more lighting junk than others. I think about 3/4ths of my older lamps were from Restore.
streetlight98   [Dec 30, 2012 at 02:28 PM]
50 cents?! Shocked Wow. I searched high and low for any HID lamps, ballasts, photocells, or even whole HID fixtures. There were a bunhc of recessed can fixtures but i didn't look though them all. I lifted one up though and it felt too light to hold an F-can ballast since those are pretty heavy.

BTW, Is anyone familiar with Valmont Electric's date codes? the VAL-MISER ballast is coded "YJ". Thanks. The Advance one say "5 1997" right on it; a full year older than I am. Cool I'm thinking the Advance ballast was a replacement for the fixture it was from since the fixture it came out of looks very 1970s. It was missing pieces as was the wrap that the VAL-MISER ballast came from. These two will be perfect for the troffer/surface mounted drop lens fixture even though they're not a matching pair. The Advance is a Mark III Energy Saver (0.73 amps) and the VAL-MISER ballast is 0.73 amps as well. They worked ungrounded when i tested them too (well actually they were still in their original fixture corpses which were metal and were on the bare tile floor so i guess they were grounded?) They start off with a little dim glowing then flash on like the troffers in my grandpa's basement.

Comment 1 to 4 of 4
Page: 1
Powered by Coppermine Photo Gallery