CGE 17A240E1 Gold Label

Here is a newer Gold Label ballast from March 1988, slightly different from this earlier model from 1983. It has been removed from a York troffer because of its odd model number. For some reason there's a 1 after the E. I've never seen something being added after the last letter of CGE's ballast model numbers.

That letter first indicated which sort of thermal protection came with the ballast. An N indicated a non-resetting thermal protection while an A indicated an automatic resetting protection. Those two suffixes have been used until the early 70s, by that time they were replaced by the T, which probably designated the thermal protection, non-resetting thermal protections having been likely phased out.

In the mid-late 70s, CGE created a separate line of non-OEM ballasts intended for sale as replacement ballasts. Those ballast were given the suffix W and had an extra warranty period, 6 months first, then 1 year in the 80s. Here's an example of one (bottom ballast).

Then CGE redesigned their ballast labels, probably in the same time they introduced the framed CGE meatball logo. All the previous suffixes have been phased out and replaced by the E, which means the ballast doesn't contain any PCBs. It has been suggested the E would mean Ecologic, or Environment, this still has to be confirmed.

That pretty much what I know of those suffixes at the moment. The purpose of the 1 on the ballast pictured above is still unknown to me.