10-year guarantee? Is it void if the lamp is used on an instant start ballast? I can't imagine any f32t8 lasting long on a frequently switched IS ballast.
@Mike:
How long do you think some F32T8's would last with... lets just say with one start every 15 minutes (& running for maybe 5 minutes out of those 15), then 4 hours/day? have a little thing I might try this xmas season
Think it'd do about a month's worth & still work? (oh yeah and I.S. (I could technically do R.S. too, but its allot more wires & trouble to setup))
Hmm when I got my first two fluorescents (two F17T8 IS wraps) they had frequent starts (several times a day and only on for a few minutes) and the lamps would last maybe six months (probably a total of 100 or 200 hours) so they do terrible. Then I installed magnetic T12s and I've never had to change a lamp! (except for a GE K&B that lost vacuum. The only reason it was a bummer was because it was full mercury).
Oh one of those lamps went poof? Did it blow the phosphor off? In the 1973 shoplight? What was it replaced with?
If it makes you feel better just remember I once had a PowerTwist lamp randomly lose vacuum.
This was actually back before the 1950s preheater went. I had to K&B lamps from the ReStore in the 1950s fixture. They were full mercury but I disliked the color so I wanted to use them up. It had a hairline crack that i noticed after i bought it (bought it along with a bunch of NOS 75W Rough Service Westie lamps) but it still worked so i figured it wasn't a through-crack. Then one day it just didn't light, so i took both lamps out and out in the DoIt C41 lamps. I kept the working K&B lamp, but I didn't keep it in the fixture since it's my only WW lamp. The DoIt lamps are still going in the Harmony House fixture from my grandpa's shop's bathroom. When one of those lamps dies I'll probably stick in a GE C41 that I have since they're the same lamp, just with different etches. The 1973 shoplite still has no wear on the lamps, I'm thinking the lamps will outlast the ballast (since it seems to take longer and longer to start the lamps). I ironically install and remove the lamps all the time though since it's my fixture of choice to test lamps given its easy-acess. I used to always test lamps in the laundry room but right now it's got the IS troffer. Once some room is made in the shed next spring (and I get another F40 fixture) I'll retire the troffer to the shed. I'm wondering if the lamps will make it until then, since the three lamps are still origin. I find it odd how they're all the same age yet the outer lamps are very black on the ends and the center lamp seems to have lots of life left. Maybe I accidentically switched up the nine lamps I had. I thought I kept the three original to the fixture separate from the rest though.
Oh I see. The DoIt lamps are likely SP41...they're pre-July-2012 right? But the newer ones are probably C41.
The K&B is a SP30 (/730) triphosphor, it replaced the F40WW in '95 after EPACT and I'm not sure what the latest iteration of such would be..C30? CX30? IDK...I'm more of a >4100K person so I wouldn't know.
You don't have any actual pre-EPACT F40WWs right? I have lots (GE Mainlighters) and a few F40CW lamps...some GE or GE-made Ace, some Watt-Miser, some not. I don't like the /530 warm white much and I use those lamps, often as tester victims, since because even they're vintage, (1979) I simply have so many of them. They're good lamps too. They all worked when I got them but a few have died since (and been cooked on an electronic ballast too).
As for that 1973 Universal ballast...you say it takes longer and longer now? Ordinarily I'd think a cathode heating wire was loose or a lamp seated incorrectly in a socket...but maybe not if you've tried so many different lamps. Could be a bad capacitor but I've never heard of that on a Universal...though it's common as dirt with 80s post-PCB Advance ballasts. In fact, I even think my slimline might have that problem. Granted, it has a broken socket and 60 watt lamps...
Hmm I don't know how old they are. I guess they could be either one. Not in F40, but I have a bunch of F20T12/WW Sylvania GTE lamps from 1986.
Yeah i think it has a dying capacitor. It's most noticable with GE lamps but it happens with newer Sylvania lamps too. Vintage lamps seem to start the easiest. When i found the fixture, there was a pair of F32T8 altos next to it but they were broken so I left them. I imagine the fixture was running them, and maybe it damaged the ballast? I think they had shielnd logos on the lamps so they were at least a few years old. I didn't catch the color temperature since I didn't really know much of anything about fluorescent lamps but I'd guess cool white, maybe 3500K.
I thought it had 34w CW Altos? I guess with either it could have been bad...from what I can see of the half-missing label it lacks the banner at the bottom: UL Listing includes two 35w 4ft 460MA RS Lamps that the later ones do...(Haven't seen the pic in awhile but that one is sorta memorable to me...I like those ballasts:)
Are the lamps normal brightness? (Try comparing to another one of your Universal-ballasted shoplights if in doubt).
They were definitely Altos. Could have been T8 or T12 to be honest. All I know is that they were both cracked (one missing an end entirely) and they had green ends and had the shield logo. I remember them being thin tubes but whatever i said when i first got it would be accurate since it would be fresh in my head. The green ends and the shield logo stick out for sure though.
Yep the label is half ripped off and does not have a reduced wattage lamp listing. In 1973 I don't think ES lamps were out yet. The lamps seem to be about the right brightness, maybe slightly dim. The C41 lamps are dim to begin with (2100 lumens) though they are a nice color (almost like a 4200K or 4300K IMO, not yellowish like CWP lamps or purplish like a standard CWX). The room is quite small too (maybe 7ft X 10ft) so even if it is dim, it does the jon. I checked the wiring on numerous occasions and it's all correct. Nothing is loose because it's consistantly slow with starting on a cold start. Once it's been running for about a minute, if you shut it off and back on quickly it will instant start but if you wait more than a couple seconds to restart it, it will flicker for a couple seconds. On a cold start, the flicker is now 4-5 seconds.
Yeah reduced wattage lamps came out in '74 so you have a 40w-only ballast there. I'm told 40w-only Universals fail quickly with 34 watt lamps so you're lucky! Advance Kool-Koils from the pre-ES era sometimes leak tar but work fine with 34 watt lamps after that (I've heard many stories of that anyway). But after energy saver lamps, and ESPECIALLY after PCBs were banned the opposite is true: Universal Therm-O-Matics last fine for 35+ years every day with 34 watt lamps for years whereas Advance Kool-Koils just...die...
Ironically, I had tested 34W lamps in the 1973 fixture and they lit up normal without the delayed start up lol. They were well-used though. It seems used lamps start fine. Just the newer lamps with light use flicker for a while for some reason. I would think a lamp would get HARDER to start as it ages, not the other way around. Maybe someone on the LG can explain.
I wanna say I've seen that too. Generally I seem to observe that 34 watt lamps have a more flashy, flickery, longer startup, though I've seen 40w lamps on reduced-power ballasts take a very long time too. My full power Bonusline almost instant-starts most of the time! (with 40w lamps)
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hey Andy it's 5000K
How long do you think some F32T8's would last with... lets just say with one start every 15 minutes (& running for maybe 5 minutes out of those 15), then 4 hours/day? have a little thing I might try this xmas season
Think it'd do about a month's worth & still work? (oh yeah and I.S. (I could technically do R.S. too, but its allot more wires & trouble to setup))
If it makes you feel better just remember I once had a PowerTwist lamp randomly lose vacuum.
The K&B is a SP30 (/730) triphosphor, it replaced the F40WW in '95 after EPACT and I'm not sure what the latest iteration of such would be..C30? CX30? IDK...I'm more of a >4100K person so I wouldn't know.
You don't have any actual pre-EPACT F40WWs right? I have lots (GE Mainlighters) and a few F40CW lamps...some GE or GE-made Ace, some Watt-Miser, some not. I don't like the /530 warm white much and I use those lamps, often as tester victims, since because even they're vintage, (1979) I simply have so many of them. They're good lamps too. They all worked when I got them but a few have died since (and been cooked on an electronic ballast too).
As for that 1973 Universal ballast...you say it takes longer and longer now? Ordinarily I'd think a cathode heating wire was loose or a lamp seated incorrectly in a socket...but maybe not if you've tried so many different lamps. Could be a bad capacitor but I've never heard of that on a Universal...though it's common as dirt with 80s post-PCB Advance ballasts. In fact, I even think my slimline might have that problem. Granted, it has a broken socket and 60 watt lamps...
Yeah i think it has a dying capacitor. It's most noticable with GE lamps but it happens with newer Sylvania lamps too. Vintage lamps seem to start the easiest. When i found the fixture, there was a pair of F32T8 altos next to it but they were broken so I left them. I imagine the fixture was running them, and maybe it damaged the ballast? I think they had shielnd logos on the lamps so they were at least a few years old. I didn't catch the color temperature since I didn't really know much of anything about fluorescent lamps but I'd guess cool white, maybe 3500K.
Are the lamps normal brightness? (Try comparing to another one of your Universal-ballasted shoplights if in doubt).
Yep the label is half ripped off and does not have a reduced wattage lamp listing. In 1973 I don't think ES lamps were out yet. The lamps seem to be about the right brightness, maybe slightly dim. The C41 lamps are dim to begin with (2100 lumens) though they are a nice color (almost like a 4200K or 4300K IMO, not yellowish like CWP lamps or purplish like a standard CWX). The room is quite small too (maybe 7ft X 10ft) so even if it is dim, it does the jon. I checked the wiring on numerous occasions and it's all correct. Nothing is loose because it's consistantly slow with starting on a cold start. Once it's been running for about a minute, if you shut it off and back on quickly it will instant start but if you wait more than a couple seconds to restart it, it will flicker for a couple seconds. On a cold start, the flicker is now 4-5 seconds.