Looking good! That CGE ballast looks pretty huge. Looks like it's from the 70s?

Thanks Joe! Yes it's a big ballast,from what I can tell I think it's from 1969 or 1970.

Oh it's larger than a standard slimline ballast? Looks good!
What color temp are those Altos? CW?

Thanks! Yes it's longer than a standard slimline ballast,yes cool whites.

I hate it when replacement ballasts are smaller than the old one and you have to drill new holes!

LOL That happened to me with the new ballast being shorter, so I just used one screw isntead of two lol.

This fixture already has holes for both sizes which is handy.

Okay good. Those electronic slimline ballasts are the same length as a F32T8 one which can make it interesting when replacing old magnetic ones...

Oh really? the electronic slimlines are the same size as a F32T8? That's dumb...

I'm pretty sure they are anyway...they're smaller than a standard magnetic F72/F96 ballast.

Even some electronic HO ones are the same size as a F32T8 ballast.

I've actually had to replace a ballast where the new one was longer than the original one. I drilled a new hole in the fixture.

I guess you can do the same for shorter but if the fixture is hardmounted you have to screw into whatever is behind it (drywall, etc) and that means removing that ballast is the fixture is ever removed for any reason...

Awesome fixture! Is that larger ballast a "lead-lag" or parallel config? (Easy way to tell is common white wire)

@Mike, Advance had a (2)F96 slimline ballast same mounting size as F40 RS under the name Ad-Lite. The line current was 1.25a and lamps were dimmer than the standard 1.45a version. I think Universal also had a small version. Same can as F48 slimline. They had those as early as the 60's I think.

Ah i see. thanks for the info. The Ad-Lite name is deceiving since they actually create less light so you're subracting light but Subtract-Lite doesn't sound as good lol.

Looks like the channel is big enough for both ballasts to fit side-by-side but most ballast manufacturers leave leads shorter on one side than the other with the assumption that the ballast is going to be mounted off-center.

BTW, how heavy is this big guy?

Cool fixture
Looks like that thing is a massive heavy beast though!

Some electronic slimline ballasts are the same size as a standard slimline ballast. I've got a couple like that..

Are they older/early prototypes? The one I saw/bought for someone was an Advance that looked like a regular F32T8 one at first glance!

@GEsoftwhite100watts: Yes they are older ones...I'll have to see If I can dig one out sometime & take a pic.

@ Don: Thanks! It is a parallel config ballast.

@ Mike: It is 42.6 lbs.

@ xmaslightguy: Thanks,yes it's heavy,I installed the 8ft brother of this one in my shop and that was a work out.

Wow! This thing weights about the same amount as my M-400 split door. I believe the M-400A2s are around that weight too with the refractor and powr/door installed.

So this ballast can have one lamp EOL or missing and the other one will still work normally?