For me, I often get bothered by the philosophy of “you can’t just because you can’t” because it discourages me and other members from doing experiments.

that's how i feel as well! some may frown on it, but by experimenting with various ballast/bulb combinations i've discovered many that work extremely well even if not specified for the way i'm using them, and as a result i've gotten a number of fixtures working again, when they had been considered "dead, and we can't get ballasts for it anymore". when it comes to the F60T12 tubes, i have multiple cases of them i'd like to put to use, and also plenty of magnetic instant-start ballasts. if the 2 can coexist happily, i'm fine with the reduced light output from running them as "non-ho" tubes. i recently did find a stash of actual ho ballasts, the big heavy ones rated in number of feet rather than type of bulb... so at least some of these F60T12s will be operating as intended. that's no reason to dismiss using them with the ballasts i have more of, though! i would note, these instant-start ballasts do say they're compatible with F60 tubes, they're just intended for single-pin slimline ones. considering that they're happy to start and run the ho tubes, i'll see how long they hold up, i suspect they'll last just as well as they would with actual slimline bulbs.

Do not use HO tubes with slimline ballasts. The ballasts do not heat the electrodes and cause them to fail early, even if you don't cycle them very often.

F96T12HO: 110 watts
F96T12: 75 watts (60 watt energy saver lamps are common, but less bright)
F96T8: 59 watts (but much higher voltage!) Same brightness as 75W T12. Usually can't be run on T12 magnetic ballasts.

The HO and non-HO slimline are electrically incompatible, hence the different endcaps ("Electrically Incompatible" can be a little deceiving, because it may still run, it just won't last as long / be as bright).


Pretty much all the designations had/have some reason to exist. It usually is not due to regulations, but some odd application that requires X volts or X lumens in an odd size.

I can't remember why the ballasts overheat when you put a wrong lamp on them, but it has something to do with the capacitor inside HPF ballasts.

that's how i feel as well! some may frown on it, but by experimenting with various ballast/bulb combinations i've discovered many that work extremely well even if not specified for the way i'm using them, and as a result i've gotten a number of fixtures working again, when they had been considered "dead, and we can't get ballasts for it anymore". when it comes to the F60T12 tubes, i have multiple cases of them i'd like to put to use, and also plenty of magnetic instant-start ballasts. if the 2 can coexist happily, i'm fine with the reduced light output from running them as "non-ho" tubes. i recently did find a stash of actual ho ballasts, the big heavy ones rated in number of feet rather than type of bulb... so at least some of these F60T12s will be operating as intended. that's no reason to dismiss using them with the ballasts i have more of, though! i would note, these instant-start ballasts do say they're compatible with F60 tubes, they're just intended for single-pin slimline ones. considering that they're happy to start and run the ho tubes, i'll see how long they hold up, i suspect they'll last just as well as they would with actual slimline bulbs.

I hope this doesn't feel like an advertisement, but I have a public lamp spec Google Sheet that you can use to find good ballasting alternatives. Includes MV, MH, HPS and of course fluorescent tubes:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRyPSC_n1dhry8yQsygp1qXoub7YLaBoZcg-yZD2EY6nsw-XBSPN3IN666SN__ljA/pubhtml

Making sure that lamps run within their rated current is the most important thing to consider. While I find a tolerance of +/-20% acceptable, other collectors would prefer a much lower current tolerance like +/-5-10% or so. However, I have known that some lamps are known to be much more sensitive to being underdriven or overdriven.