yeah those LPF trigger start ballasts never are very reliable , older HPF are great but are bigger in size, maybe as big as a 2X40T12 ballast , so they wouldn't fit in there
Forever really as it dosent let lamps rectify (lamp fails at one end and converts AC to DC )there is a capacitor across both lamps
slimline ballasts are the ones that can fail when a bad lamp rectifys
BTW I have a certain advance 2XF40 LPF ballast that powers 2 F17T8s great and dosent kill them or overheat the ballast
Might be coroded sockets, try new ones or it could be the lamps, possibly a bad ground connection
If not that then the ballast is going bad
How old is it?
The lamps are old 35w GE lamps etched with red ink. Those are origional to the fixture. That should give an idea to the date. I don't know about ground or sockets. i'll have to check those and the lamps when I go to my great-aunt's house again.
I'm not sure whats wrong with it, after it warms up it starts flickering (change out the lamps & it'll stop but sometimes will flicker once they warm up) Once the ballast is fully warm/hot it works fine. Maybe a bad capacitor?
I have a spare (and some 4x F20T12 electronic RS) so if at sometime I put this in use I'll just swap ballasts.
slimline ballasts are the ones that can fail when a bad lamp rectifys
BTW I have a certain advance 2XF40 LPF ballast that powers 2 F17T8s great and dosent kill them or overheat the ballast
If not that then the ballast is going bad
How old is it?
I have a spare (and some 4x F20T12 electronic RS) so if at sometime I put this in use I'll just swap ballasts.