Here's a closeup of some various ballasts that I got today. The two GE Bonuslines on the bottom were from Restore, the bottom one is a two lamp F40 ballast that dates to Sep '74 (code JK) while the other one is a F48T12/VHO ballast that I couldn't find a date code on though.
The ballasts on the top are new and are two GE F14-15-20 chokes from I think Dec '09 (code 50 2009) and a Philips Advance two lamp F40 ballast from I think Dec '09.
Well since the same ballasts are sold in the US and Canada it makes sense to have both listings, plus both listings are acceptable in both countries as long as they have the small 'US' outside the CSA logo in the States and the small 'C' outside the UL logo in Canada, many have both as well. There are a bunch of other listings too.
I bought the same type of ballast as the preheats at HD. It said to look at the instruction sheet for the wiring diagram although there wasn't a wiring diagram at all.
i don't know how to wire things off hand. I need a diagram. I know how to wire this now though. They sell the trigger start ballasts here too for 14-20 watts. They also sell RS F40 ballasts Lowe's is all electronic.
Nice finds! The F40 GE BonusLine ballast is identical to the one in my Sears shoplight only mine is rated for 34w lamps...and although it's lost some (maybe PCB-containing ) tar it still works like a charm and the label is in pretty good condition. Although rated for 34 watters when I got it it had 34 watters in it (hmm let me guess how the tar leaked ). Still pretty quiet too, even on modified-sine-wave inverter electricity, unlike my .77 amp advance that is quiet on normal power but VERY NOISY on modified-sine-wave and my .8 amp yellow/green label Universal that is very buzzy until the lamps warm up, then it suddenly gets fairly quiet (maybe the Sylvania /CWP lamp in there that flickers for a few minutes till it warms up just like Mike's has something to do with that)
I know the single-lamp choke preheat wiring scheme off the top of my head and I could probably do a rapid start if I had to...(without looking) I think it's yellow and yellow to one end of one side, one blue and one red to the other side of that lamp and one blue and one red to the other lamp and then the other end tied to the other lamp on the yellow side...am I right?
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Your F40 ballast is indeed from 9/74!
It's kind of interesting that they were also CSA certified too...
Can you tell us the date code of the Advance ballast? Maybe I can fine tune to translate.
The Canadian ones don't even sell any preheat ballasts...they sell HPF F20 trigger starts instead.
I know the single-lamp choke preheat wiring scheme off the top of my head and I could probably do a rapid start if I had to...(without looking) I think it's yellow and yellow to one end of one side, one blue and one red to the other side of that lamp and one blue and one red to the other lamp and then the other end tied to the other lamp on the yellow side...am I right?