Author Topic: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast?  (Read 2112 times)
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Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « on: September 08, 2022, 07:38:52 PM » Author: 70HPS
Or will it be overdriven on a 42w ballast?
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #1 on: September 08, 2022, 07:48:26 PM » Author: RyanF40T12
So the 42 watt ballast isn't multi-rated?  Most of the PL ballasts I deal with are rated to handle 26, 32, and 42 watts, but a few will only handle 32W max.  I've got a few buildings that have older magnetic ballasts that were rated only for specific wattage. 
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #2 on: September 08, 2022, 07:59:06 PM » Author: 70HPS
It's a 42 watt electronic instant start ballast
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #3 on: September 08, 2022, 08:18:12 PM » Author: 70HPS
I'm afraid I might blow up the 26 watt/32 watt bulb lol, yes i have a 26 watt cfl
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #4 on: September 09, 2022, 12:59:01 AM » Author: Medved
The main ballasting function has no reason to not work.
However the different lamp arc drop may interfere with either EOL protection features (when the lamp behaves differently than it is supposed to, the ballast may "think" it is failing and so shut it down; mainly happens when using higher arc voltage lamp),
or starting (the ballast output voltage during preheating phase may exceed the maximum allowed for the 32W so it may cold start), affecting lamp life.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #5 on: September 09, 2022, 06:19:52 PM » Author: 70HPS
I just tried a 26w PL on th 42 watt ballast, it works just fine... although it will probably shorten lamp life.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #6 on: September 10, 2022, 04:09:22 AM » Author: 108CAM
I have a 26w lamp running on a 32w ballast. It starts up fine but appears to be getting overdriven as it gets rather hot in a short amount of time.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #7 on: September 10, 2022, 04:29:38 AM » Author: dor123
I've seen in Carmel hospital, what happening when you run 28W T5 on a 54W T5 HO ballast: The ends goes black fast and the electrodes glowing strong, and the life being shorted.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #8 on: September 10, 2022, 05:44:19 AM » Author: Medved
But T5 vs T5HO are rated for way different current, so need different ballasts.
The PL-L's are all the same 330mA, so if the ballast is able to maintain that over the varying arc voltage drops (usually not a problem at all), plus if its output voltage does not exceed the maximum preheat limit of the lowest wattage (so the discharge won't start at still cold electrodes) and still is able to reach the minimum ignition voltage of the highest wattage (to ignite it reliably; but usually not a problem, the ignition voltage ballasts commonly generate uses to exceed 1kV during the ignition burst, which uses to be enough for any fluorescent), that single ballast could operate all wattages where those conditions are met.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #9 on: September 22, 2022, 10:16:07 PM » Author: 70HPS
So I have an 18w (i know, bad idea) PL on a 42w PL ballast... will it be EOL faster?
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #10 on: September 22, 2022, 10:29:41 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Are you talking about 18w 2G11 PL-L lamps or 18w G24Q2 PL-C lamps?
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #11 on: September 22, 2022, 11:05:47 PM » Author: 70HPS
18w PL-C with the G24q-2 base.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #12 on: September 22, 2022, 11:07:40 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
That lamp will suffer a reduced life on a 26w-42w PL-T electronic CFL ballast because 26w-42w PL-T CFL lamps run at a current of 0.33a while 18w G24Q2 PL-C CFL lamps run at a current of 0.22a.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #13 on: September 22, 2022, 11:17:49 PM » Author: 70HPS
I assumed that it would shorten lamp life. I won't run it often, since I'd use it only if I wanted a warmer 3000k over the 4100k of my other 26-42w PL's.
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Re: Will a 32 watt PL fluorescent bulb work on a 42w PL fluorescent ballast? « Reply #14 on: September 22, 2022, 11:21:46 PM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
In that case, an electronic ballast designed for these 18w G24Q2 PL-C CFL lamps would work pretty well or you could even use an 18w G24D2 2 pin PL-C magnetic preheat CFL HX autotransformer ballast in conjunction with an external FS4 starter to run them as well.
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