Author Topic: long john ballast poped  (Read 3931 times)
Walter Knox
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

@WalterKnox
long john ballast poped « on: April 10, 2019, 07:55:53 PM » Author: Walter Knox
i made a page on this light a while back
https://www.lighting-gallery.net/index.php?topic=7252.0
the thing was working great until today when it made a loud pop and the inner 2 lamps shut off. and then brown liquid started running out of it. i opened it up and put rubber gloves on to clean it up and remove it from the ceiling and the ballasts were both very hot, the blew up one melted my glove. i took it off the ceiling and now am going to rehang one of my 60s rapid start fixtures back up. what was the stuff that pored out?
Logged
fluorescent lover 40
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #1 on: April 10, 2019, 08:29:18 PM » Author: fluorescent lover 40
That brown stuff may have been PCBs which are very toxic. Dispose of the ballast properly.
Logged
Walter Knox
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

@WalterKnox
Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #2 on: April 10, 2019, 08:32:29 PM » Author: Walter Knox
yeah. i am going to remove the old ballasts, (both of them because the other one was just as hot.
Logged
Walter Knox
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

@WalterKnox
Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #3 on: April 10, 2019, 08:34:23 PM » Author: Walter Knox
if anybody is interested in purchasing the fixture, i will sell if for cheap if you could either pay shipping or come get it. if not i will probably just throw it out
Logged
fluorescent lover 40
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #4 on: April 11, 2019, 10:42:03 PM » Author: fluorescent lover 40
You don't have to throw the fixture. Just give it a REALLY good scrub (try avoiding ballast wires though) and re-paint it and it's good to go.
Logged
Walter Knox
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

@WalterKnox
Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #5 on: April 12, 2019, 08:48:17 AM » Author: Walter Knox
yeah, i will probably try to clean it up, but i will sell it. because it is of no use to me because it does not have the preheat ballast anymore. i don't want to use rapid start or electronic.
Logged
fluorescent lover 40
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #6 on: April 12, 2019, 02:28:07 PM » Author: fluorescent lover 40

Good morning. I worked in transformer test and repair for a major electric utility when I was younger. We placed our hands in pole transformers marked "PCB Inhibited", we got inside the large substation 169kv transformers after pulling the core and cleaned out the sludge in the bottom of the huge tanks. We had cuts on our hands and the oil got on our clothing and we wore it home. Not one of the people I worked with got cancer, not one. Twenty years after that exposure, I ran 5 miles on an incline track every other day and worked out as well and this is all after breathing the PCB oil fumes. I know people who were never exposed and they died in their 50-60's from heart attacks and strokes.  
There are more toxins in the food we eat from pesticides and herbicides than we could ever guess.
Just an observation.

Ok, got it! My use of the word "very" wasn't good there.
Logged
DetroitTwoStroke
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Luke


Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #7 on: April 12, 2019, 02:48:40 PM » Author: DetroitTwoStroke
Sounds like the capacitor in the ballast blew up. You can remove the ballasts and wash the fixture with Dawn dish soap to remove the oil. Then install new ballasts.
There are new old stock Universal 203 preheat ballasts on ebay that have non-PCB capacitors. Here is a link.
Logged

Pride and quality workmanship should lie behind manufacturing, not greed.

DetroitTwoStroke
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Luke


Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #8 on: April 12, 2019, 02:56:54 PM » Author: DetroitTwoStroke
Also, Universal 203 and Universal 205 (or 205-TC-P) are both two lamp F40 preheat ballasts, if you are looking for them. The 205 wires up slightly differently because it has an internal starting compensator, but the wiring diagram on them shows how to wire them.
Logged

Pride and quality workmanship should lie behind manufacturing, not greed.

Walter Knox
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

@WalterKnox
Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #9 on: April 12, 2019, 03:54:33 PM » Author: Walter Knox
yeah, both the ballasts had actually come apart when i unscrewed them from the fixture, the one that blew had a big hold blown in the capacitor, and the one that did not had the capacitor very swollen up, so it was ready to go soon too. as for the fixture, i will hold on to it for the time being. i have some 50s louvered 40 watt x4 fixtures that i am going to install. at some point i will either buy new ballasts and keep it, or install LED tubes and sell it. but fot the time being i am going to put it in the shed. i put too much time into it to just trash it.
Logged
Bert
Member
**
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #10 on: April 20, 2019, 10:45:45 PM » Author: Bert
I've been having pretty good luck replacing capacitors in ballasts. Once you know where they are located it's not hard to dig them out. I've got a bunch of early 70's Bonus line ballasts that I need to get at one of these days, many have shorted capacitors.
Logged
Walter Knox
Member
***
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

@WalterKnox
Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #11 on: April 30, 2019, 08:51:19 AM » Author: Walter Knox
the capacitor popped becausethe ballast was partially shorted and was overheating.i am going to put new ones in and sell it.
Logged
funkybulb
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


Re: long john ballast poped « Reply #12 on: May 02, 2019, 09:20:44 AM » Author: funkybulb
reason It pops is due cap age and lossing uF and cap heat up being swollen.   the cap have job regulating
current into the lamp to keep it constant current
once cap fails and become shorted it looses current regulation in the ballast making it run extreamly hot
caps should be replace on old ballast.  Esp if fuxture
sat around unuse for extended time of non use the cap
becomes deformed and will heat up and pop.
it getting to point where all older preheat ballast cap
need replacing  just ensure we keep our fluorescent
running longer.  I would recomend extending the cap lead  and remote mount the cap.
Logged

No LED gadgets, spins too slowly.  Gotta  love preheat and MV. let the lights keep my meter spinning.

Print 
© 2005-2024 Lighting-Gallery.net | SMF 2.0.19 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines | Terms and Policies