Made in 1968 from the datecode underneath - 0568. Was in the lift, disconnected, along with 7 others. I think that the lampholders broke and the fittings, which are welded in place to the side of the cage, were left there and new bare lamps and ballasts were placed on top of them. I then put in a new fitting that just rests on these plates, and got curious as to these old ballasts. Difficult to remove, as there is no space to get a screwdriver in on top, and absolutely no way to get to the 3/16 nut on the ballast anyway. I ended up using a small piece of plate to turn the screw, and relied on the ballast to hold the nut until it fell off. Then did a gentle application of brute force to get clearance to remove one ballast, leaving the other 7 still in place. Did the quick and nasty connection there and tried a few of the nearest lamps, 18W used lamps. The first 2 GE lamps just glowed brightly, and did not light ( they are very used lamps) while the Phillips TL-D lit after I touched it. I need to run this with an earthed plate on the lamp, but the ballast still works 40 odd years after manufacture. Nice is that it is for a 30W either T12 or T8 tube, and runs cool after a 5 minute test.
Polyester resin, hard as rock, and not likely to come out unless I use some really nasty solvent brew that will remove it, along with all the wire insulation, the core formers and anything organic like my skin.
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