I remember reading here that some battery powered fluorescent fixtures cause blackening of the tube ends. Hence called "bulb muncher."

What I wonder is are there any particular line-voltage fluorescent or HID ballast or gear that are known for burning through lamps quickly? Is it possible a ballast could be manufactured incorrectly and supply improper over/under voltage to the lamp and cause early failure or excessive arc tube blackening? How about HPS/MH ignitor supplying over/under voltage?

For fluorescent lamps you could run a NPF rapid start ballast with the cathode heating supply disconnected. The NPF rapid start ballasts tend to also have low ballast factor so the lamps are underdriven. If you disconnect the cathode heating supply, the cathodes won't reach proper temperature during operation and will probably darken a lot sooner.

I believe on most NPF ballasts you would disconnect one of the reds and cap off, and the single blue wire and cap off separately.

Battery powered ballast underdrives the lamps and connects one wire to each end of the lamp, so the lamp cathodes run cold, and hence the sputtering.
Magnetic ballasts can't run on DC in any way.

I had a 2x40W HPF RS magnetic ballast at church and it was going through lamps quite quickly. Other lamps in the room lasted about 10 years because of low use, but these lasted about 3-4 months. After getting tired of changing lamps, I removed the channel cover and noticed a disconnected yellow wire. Quick repair job and no problems after that.

I have several Robertson 4-6-8W chokes (slim type) that kill 8w lamps in about 6-8 months of 24/7.

I have seen some 28W and 54W "tube muncher" ballasts. In them the problem seems to be opposite, the cathodes glow bright Yellow, to the point that the glowing filaments are visible through the phosphor of the lit tube. Cheap "CFL ballast in a standard ballast form factor" things

Yeah cheapo electronic ballasts tended to be tube munchers too. I have a 2ft wraparound with one of these ballasts and the lamp life improved significantly when I replaced the stock "rapid start" ballast with a Sylvania instant start one.

I'd imagine the infamous LOA 2x F40 shoplights probably didn't have very good lamp life either.

I'd imagine the infamous LOA 2x F40 shoplights probably didn't have very good lamp life either.

I've actually had lamps last a pretty long time on those.

That's kind of surprising as I thought those things ate lamps.