LOL I've personally dealt with two of these (but 2-lamp versions). Both used from the ReStore (came inside fixtures) and both actually work fine. You may remember that I relabeled one as a McCann Lighting fluorescent ballast. Not really a product I'd want to put my name on but the different label alone makes the ballast seem that much better lol. The one I relabeled was a full-size electronic case like this (not really full size, as that would be a HPF brick ballast, but it was this size, the standard electronic ballast size) but the second one I have is in a lightly used Lithonia strip from the ReStore and I think the ballast is actually smaller. Like half the width and the same length as a NPF RS ballast. I'm gonna leave it though. I'm either going to install it in my uncle's basement or my grandpa's shop. Dunno where it's gonna end up yet. Right now it's just on my couch lol
I don't have any preheaters on the list that need a fixture! I have an el cheapo shoplight that I reballasted for T8 that will replace the F90T17 over my late-grandfathers basement work desk. I haven't replaced it yet since it's a big mother. Right now it's more convenient for me to "store" it in their basement still installed. I've had the replacement fixture for a few years now tucked away in a box behind our hot water heater. It's got a GE residential ballast and two Sylvania FO32T8/835s. It's wired to a cord with no plug. On the end where the plug should be I hooked up a handy box, which the BX the T17 is hooked up with will tie in. That way, the actual installation of the fixture is quick-and-easy. The 2x F32T8 will provide the same or more light than the single f90T17 they're using and at about half the power consumption. However, they never really use the light so they don't care lol. My grandma did say that I need to install a replacement though "for when the light is needed", so there it is!
And those preheaters at my cousins' grandma's garage and basement... Their grandma is loosing it mentally so I probably won't get those lights. If I do, it would be through my aunt's or uncle's permission, which would only come after a certain unfortunate event. She's still OK to be by herself (though the houses are connected so she really isn't by herself much) but she goes on these weird rants and if you're having a conversation with another person she'll come up and listen for a bit and say something totally bizarre and off-topic but she'll say it as if it was what we were talking about. This has apparently been going on for at least a year and it's getting worse but very slowly.
Anyway, if I were to replace my cousins' grandma's lights (I'll just call her by Gerri, her name, since it's easier than typing "cousins' grandma" every time I want to say her name lol) the replacement fixtures and lamps are already there for the garage lights and I have the fixtures for the basement lights so it would just be a matter of obtaining permission.
There is that 8ft F40T12 tandem unit at my great-aunt's house, but I'd like to get two single lamp strips to replace it (butted together to make an 8ft unit). Having a two-lamp 4ft fixture in its place would give the same amount of light but it would be concentrated and would look weird. However, once replaced, all the fluorescent lighting in her house would become F32T8/835. Originally she had F20T12, F40T12, and F90T17 in a mix of cool white and white (and Gro-Lux, LOL).
So anyway, I might install this strip fixture at my aunt's and uncle's house in the basement (or I might reballast the existing F40/RS shoplights for F32T8s and reinstall them in the unfinished portion and keep the extra fixtures, in which case I'd install the strip fixture at my grandpa's shop to replace that pathetically dim F40/RS NPF strip in the boiler room/breezeway between the garage and spraybooth). My grandpa acknowledged that the lighting at his shop "sucks" and said maybe someday when he's got more money he'll have me redo the lighting or add more fixtures or something.
I would probably recommend him to replace the 8ft fixtures with six-lamp F32T8 highbays. I'd keep a couple of the fixtures (one of the HOs and a slimline or two). The fixtures won't necessarily be replaced on a one-for-one though. More light is needed, but with the T8 highbays, I'd install them closer to the ceiling, which is probably around 15 or 20ft up. Right now the fixtures are no more than 9ft off the floor, so they don't light as wide of an area. By raising the existing fixtures up higher, they'd cover more area but then the area covered by the fixtures wouldn't be lit as brightly. We'd be worsening one problem to fix another. I've looked into converting the fixtures to 8ft T8 but in the long run it would cost more to convert the existing fixtures to F96T8 than it would be to replace them with six lamp T8 highbays. Initially, converting to F96T8s would be cheaper, but after a few relamps, the F96T8s would end up costing more because the 8ft lamps are so much more expensive than the F32T8s. F32T8s are like water right now. Very cheap and expendable. F96T8s aren't as common so they naturally cost considerably more. Plus we'd have to add more fixtures anyway, so the garage would end up having a mix of F96T8 and 8ft tandem F32T8 strips, since HD or Lowe's don't sell F96T8 fixtures, only the 4X F32T8s.
And I'm sure the building wiring for these existing fixtures is shot (the building is from 1940) so with the six lamp highbays, I'd also run new wiring for everything and probably run said wiring all the way back into the breaker panel. The building is an old cinderblock building with a concrete slab ceiling and concrete floor (the last part should be of no surprise though LOL) so I'd have to run everything on the surface in EMT. I'd have the highbays wired to plugs though for easy service when (not if, WHEN) t
(not if, WHEN) the ballasts fail. All of the ceiling wiring is already run exposed, since the ceiling is solid, and I think the wiring is exposed in EMT outside the walls too, so just when it goes into the floor it's buried. I'd run the new stuff all across the ceiling though (except for switches of course, and I'd redo the layout on the switches so all the switches are in one spot rather than having each switch right under the lights it controls. That way there's no fumbling around in the dark looking for the switch. Also, most six lamp highbays have two three lamp ballasts nowadays (early ones had six lamp ballasts, but I think high failure rate probably put an end to that) so I could wire the fixtures on two switches.
The garage is split into two halves with currently there being three lighting sections. First section is four fixture (tow slimline in one row and one slimline and one HO in another row). Second section is one row with two slimlines and one HO. Third section is three vintage slimlines, along the back wall of the garage. With the T8 highbays, I'd likely install seven or eight of them. Four being on the front half of the shop and the remaining three or four lighting the back half. There would be four switches total: two controlling the front half and two controlling the back half. One switch would control three lamps in each fixture and the other switch would control the other three lamps in each fixture. This way the fixtures can be "dimmed" if only some light is required. All the new lighting would be on a dedicated freshly run 20A circuit inside EMT conduit and each light would have a round box above it with a plug for the lights. Lamps would probably be cool white. I'd prefer 5000K but the 4100Ks come in cases of 30 rather than 10- or 12-packs so it's cheaper to get the 4100Ks.
Heh, I've have a few run ins with these. While none of mine failed yet, I noticed they tend to underdrive lamps. One of my striplights came with a F96T12/HO version of this and it was noticeably brighter after I replaced it with a magnetic Advance.
Not sure about the T12 AccuPro ballasts, but all the T8 ones are 0.87BF according to their website. I was digging around and also found that they have tools that can calculate pole spacing and how many fixtures needed to light a room!
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And those preheaters at my cousins' grandma's garage and basement... Their grandma is loosing it mentally so I probably won't get those lights. If I do, it would be through my aunt's or uncle's permission, which would only come after a certain unfortunate event. She's still OK to be by herself (though the houses are connected so she really isn't by herself much) but she goes on these weird rants and if you're having a conversation with another person she'll come up and listen for a bit and say something totally bizarre and off-topic but she'll say it as if it was what we were talking about. This has apparently been going on for at least a year and it's getting worse but very slowly.
Anyway, if I were to replace my cousins' grandma's lights (I'll just call her by Gerri, her name, since it's easier than typing "cousins' grandma" every time I want to say her name lol) the replacement fixtures and lamps are already there for the garage lights and I have the fixtures for the basement lights so it would just be a matter of obtaining permission.
There is that 8ft F40T12 tandem unit at my great-aunt's house, but I'd like to get two single lamp strips to replace it (butted together to make an 8ft unit). Having a two-lamp 4ft fixture in its place would give the same amount of light but it would be concentrated and would look weird. However, once replaced, all the fluorescent lighting in her house would become F32T8/835. Originally she had F20T12, F40T12, and F90T17 in a mix of cool white and white (and Gro-Lux, LOL).
So anyway, I might install this strip fixture at my aunt's and uncle's house in the basement (or I might reballast the existing F40/RS shoplights for F32T8s and reinstall them in the unfinished portion and keep the extra fixtures, in which case I'd install the strip fixture at my grandpa's shop to replace that pathetically dim F40/RS NPF strip in the boiler room/breezeway between the garage and spraybooth). My grandpa acknowledged that the lighting at his shop "sucks" and said maybe someday when he's got more money he'll have me redo the lighting or add more fixtures or something.
I would probably recommend him to replace the 8ft fixtures with six-lamp F32T8 highbays. I'd keep a couple of the fixtures (one of the HOs and a slimline or two). The fixtures won't necessarily be replaced on a one-for-one though. More light is needed, but with the T8 highbays, I'd install them closer to the ceiling, which is probably around 15 or 20ft up. Right now the fixtures are no more than 9ft off the floor, so they don't light as wide of an area. By raising the existing fixtures up higher, they'd cover more area but then the area covered by the fixtures wouldn't be lit as brightly. We'd be worsening one problem to fix another. I've looked into converting the fixtures to 8ft T8 but in the long run it would cost more to convert the existing fixtures to F96T8 than it would be to replace them with six lamp T8 highbays. Initially, converting to F96T8s would be cheaper, but after a few relamps, the F96T8s would end up costing more because the 8ft lamps are so much more expensive than the F32T8s. F32T8s are like water right now. Very cheap and expendable. F96T8s aren't as common so they naturally cost considerably more. Plus we'd have to add more fixtures anyway, so the garage would end up having a mix of F96T8 and 8ft tandem F32T8 strips, since HD or Lowe's don't sell F96T8 fixtures, only the 4X F32T8s.
And I'm sure the building wiring for these existing fixtures is shot (the building is from 1940) so with the six lamp highbays, I'd also run new wiring for everything and probably run said wiring all the way back into the breaker panel. The building is an old cinderblock building with a concrete slab ceiling and concrete floor (the last part should be of no surprise though LOL) so I'd have to run everything on the surface in EMT. I'd have the highbays wired to plugs though for easy service when (not if, WHEN) t
The garage is split into two halves with currently there being three lighting sections. First section is four fixture (tow slimline in one row and one slimline and one HO in another row). Second section is one row with two slimlines and one HO. Third section is three vintage slimlines, along the back wall of the garage. With the T8 highbays, I'd likely install seven or eight of them. Four being on the front half of the shop and the remaining three or four lighting the back half. There would be four switches total: two controlling the front half and two controlling the back half. One switch would control three lamps in each fixture and the other switch would control the other three lamps in each fixture. This way the fixtures can be "dimmed" if only some light is required. All the new lighting would be on a dedicated freshly run 20A circuit inside EMT conduit and each light would have a round box above it with a plug for the lights. Lamps would probably be cool white. I'd prefer 5000K but the 4100Ks come in cases of 30 rather than 10- or 12-packs so it's cheaper to get the 4100Ks.