It's electronic instant start so with no cathode heating it only needs one wire to each end of each tube and it's obviously wired in series...since that's the case I wonder if the same ballast would run one F32T8?
Yes they used one lamp F32T8 ballasts but as you can see they were cheap and cut the ballast leads down to a couple inches, just enough to reach the sockets. Lithonia has gotten very skimpy with their non-commerical stuff.
Unlike the .77 amp Advance lighting my computer area with it's excessively long leads, especially at the one end (of course ballast is offset in it's fixture). Same goes for my GE BonusLine ballast and probably the Universal Therm-O-matic in the other "Old School" fixture (all are in operation as I type)...The Universal has thinner wire though I noticed (like 20 gauge instead of 18 gauge?) when I was wiring it to power. Seems the wires on that one might be aluminum, too, which makes sense for a 1970s ballast...aluminum wiring was popular in houses in the 60s and 70s since copper was more expensive at that time...but aluminum wire can be problematic as it ages, mainly because with aluminum you need thicker gauge wire for the same amount of current as opposed to copper...and often that wasn't done. Just google "Aluminum wiring" or something like that and you'll see what I mean...I'd post a link but I'm admittedly not the world's most computer-savvy person and still can't figure out how...
That silver looking wire in the 60s and 70s ballasts is probably tinned copper wire. I don't think they made aluminium wire smaller than #12 which is rated to 15A.
And yep aluminium has a higher resistance than copper so they had to use the next size for the same current as copper. Most of the problems didn't occur in the wires though, the problem were mostly in the wire joints. The joints in the wire oxidize over time (copper oxidizes too but copper oxide dosen't have a high resistance) which increases the resistance in the circuit (a high resistance connection gets quite hot). That's why special CO/ALR devices were required and wirenuts were not recommend for use with aluminium. The recommended ways to connect aluminium is usually Copalum crimps (need a special and hard to find tool) or with terminal blocks. I think Lowe's sells the terminal blocks. Also after stripping off the insulation you should lightly sand the wire and apply a anti oxidant paste the ends.
Also the gauge of the ballast leads more or less stayed the same over the years. However the insulation got thinner from the late 70s onwards. 70s ballasts usually had PVC insulation while later ballasts had a thinner PVC insulation with a nylon layer above it.
Maybe it really is tinned copper...that one Universal ballast seemed to be different because of that and being "probably mid-70s" vintage it made sense.
You made me look at my .77 amp Advance and it appears to have rubber wires that are decently thick-looking...although that particular ballasts runs sorta hot it seems (was tripping it's thermal protection when it was still at the school and now I'm running it without the ballast cover and door/diffuser...plus it shows off the cool old ballast in there...
My two "Old school" lights are currently wired to cords and plugged in...and yes I am using the (smallest possible) wirenuts on a multistrand-to-single-strand connection (does code allow that? I've done it many times)...anyway it's probably not exactly up to code but IMHO it's nicer than those spliced-in ballasts without the ballast cover re-installed...
Andy; to find out the date of your universal ballast, check the backside of it. It'll have a three digit code, one letter, followed by two numbers. The letter is the month (A= Jan, B= Feb, etc with "I" omitted, so M= December) the numbers are the last two digits of the year. ( 1977= 77, 1984= 84, etc) therefore a ballast marked "B73" like my universal ballast would date to Feb. 1973.
Sometime I will check but first I need to find a nut driver so I can take out the ballast...regardless I'd guess mid-70s but I'll look for sure...sometime I need to have a ballast-dating day.
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And yep aluminium has a higher resistance than copper so they had to use the next size for the same current as copper. Most of the problems didn't occur in the wires though, the problem were mostly in the wire joints. The joints in the wire oxidize over time (copper oxidizes too but copper oxide dosen't have a high resistance) which increases the resistance in the circuit (a high resistance connection gets quite hot). That's why special CO/ALR devices were required and wirenuts were not recommend for use with aluminium. The recommended ways to connect aluminium is usually Copalum crimps (need a special and hard to find tool) or with terminal blocks. I think Lowe's sells the terminal blocks. Also after stripping off the insulation you should lightly sand the wire and apply a anti oxidant paste the ends.
Also the gauge of the ballast leads more or less stayed the same over the years. However the insulation got thinner from the late 70s onwards. 70s ballasts usually had PVC insulation while later ballasts had a thinner PVC insulation with a nylon layer above it.
You made me look at my .77 amp Advance and it appears to have rubber wires that are decently thick-looking...although that particular ballasts runs sorta hot it seems (was tripping it's thermal protection when it was still at the school and now I'm running it without the ballast cover and door/diffuser...plus it shows off the cool old ballast in there...
My two "Old school" lights are currently wired to cords and plugged in...and yes I am using the (smallest possible) wirenuts on a multistrand-to-single-strand connection (does code allow that? I've done it many times)...anyway it's probably not exactly up to code but IMHO it's nicer than those spliced-in ballasts without the ballast cover re-installed...