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GE UltraMax T8 Ballasts
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Since T12 lamps will no longer be made after this year, I decided to upgrade the two T12 fixtures that are in my basement storage room. The fixtures currently have 4 lamps with 2 ballasts in each fixture. Each fixture will get one of these GE UltraMax ballasts which drives 4 lamps in parallel. It's not the greatest ballast (Instant start, Low power) but it will work fine for this application. I've never worked with T8's before. Now I just have to buy the lamps.
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They do make devices called "kil-a-watt" meters that plug into the power between the device that you want to measure wattage of
A .8 amp HPF rapid start ballast draws 96 watts (2x40w=80w for the lamps+16w in ballast losses. I'm not sure about those oddball .77 amp Advance ballasts, (which are still considered full power; anything .76 amp and under is considered "energy saver" hence the .76 amp and .73 amp modern ballasts that don't run lamps at full power) but my .77 amp Advance seems just as bright as it's neighboring .8 amp Universal Therm-O-Matic (green/yellow label like yours) and the .8 amp GE Bonusline.
HPF is High Power Factor, and NPF means Normal Power Factor, but many people (including myself) use LPF to differentiate between HPF ballasts. However, most (if not all) NPF/LPF ballasts underdrive lamps.
Anyway, .8 amp and .77 amp magnetic ballasts are full power and run 40w lamps at 40w, while .76 amp and .73 amp ones are energy-saver (and light reducer ) ones.
Ballast factor is merely a ratio of the current the lamp is driven at over the normal lamp current which is applicable for all ballasts. HPF-LPF magnetic ballasts existed too, IE the Circle-Dot line from GE or more recently the ballasts designed to run 34w lamps IE EPAK 34 (not to be confused with energy saver ballasts)
Power factor is a whole different animal, simply put it's the ratio between the VA drawn and the power drawn by a load. Simplest way to find that is to get a Kill-A-Watt type meter. Generally NPF ballasts have around 0.50 to 0.60 PF and HPF ballasts have 0.9 or higher PF.
NPF ballasts that drove the lamps at >90% output existed in the early days of fluorescent lighting, they only lowered the ballast factor on them recently so they could have a ballast that drove both 30 and 40w lamps. Back in the day 40w and 30w lamps had their own ballast.
Traditional 2 lamp RS ballasts usually drew roughly 750mA to 800mA and preheat usually 800mA to 850mA. Newer energy saver ballasts drew around the 720mA to 750mA mark and the 34w ballasts drew at the 600 to 650mA mark.
To measure the ballast current at the output, get a true RMS clamp on ammeter and clamp it on the output hot lead. This only works on magnetic ballasts as electronic ballasts run the lamps at high frequency and require a oscilloscope to accurately measure the current.
Well in that case a 2X F32T8 1.07BF ballast would work to replace 4X F40T12 tubes in the troffers that my grandpa has then. That's great news since 2 lamp electronic ballasts run cooler, less lamps are used, he saves 144.96W (48.32W per fixture), he gains 79 lumens per fixture (ok, well that's not really noticable) and the ballasts only cost $11 each!
BTW Joe, yeah i've noticed that my NPF single lamp universal F40T12 ballast appears to run f20 lamps at full brightness. must be a trigger start ballast in disguise lol.
There are three troffers at his shop, all with, I assume, VAL-MISER ballasts. Not the best ballasts, but they're better than the new crappola the companies are spitting out today. the HOs and the slimlines are the ones that probably have vintage ballasts and one F40T12/RS strip that looks to be LBF NPF as the tube is DIM!
So yep, three F40T12 troffers which i'll ask if i can retrofit to T8, a single lamp strip that is (IMO) too dim for it's location that i'll ask to retrofit for more light in that area, and there's an 8ft f40T12 curved basket wrap tandem fixture. the wrap fixture is in a closet and it's practically NEVER used so he may not want to retrofit that one if he wants to retrofit any lights at all. the rest of the lights are all slimline strip lights except for two reflector slimlines and two HO reflector lights.
I'm going to offer to swap out the bathroom light for free so i don't see any reason that he'd refuse. The only bad thing would be if he or i needed to use the bathroom when i'm the middle of swapping the fixtures since there's no windows and there's only one light in there lol. Needless to say i will be bringing a thrid light as a work light. probably my McCann Lighting Bucket Light Mini that i made a few years back. I'll stick my SBMV lamp in it or a 300w incandescent. I don't know where I'd plug it in though...
If he declines from retrofitting the troffers i may ask him if i can simply make the troffers two lamp F40 units so i can have the ballasts. this is probably the first time since the lights were installed that there's been no dead tubes in his lights so two lamps is probably enough light lol.
You going to use that A-shape Westy SBMV from Joe M. in your worklight? COOL!
EDIT: Oh wait! he has an LOA 2X F40T12 shop lite that was a subsitute for the HO fixture while it was out (he didn't want to spend $15 for a pair of lamps lol, but he did recently and i had relamped it with 110W altos). i can use that as my work light. i'll probably still bring an extension cord with me though since the cord for that is only like 4-5ft long.
My local Benny's sells cheesy shoplites for 7-10 dollars but like Aaron said, i wouldn't buy one. At least not for my use lol. I know it could be retrofitted and all but do you really want to waste a good ballast on a crappy fixture? lol
You could always put a longer cord on that LOA shoplight...and install modern tubes.