Can you test a ballast?
- Thread starter TxAgs
- Start date
Delta74
Well-known member
cheapest way, wire it up try a set of known good tubes, simple way, get a tester, but the price? well put a pound of sand into the lube, and bend over.
the nasty tar thats leaking out, unless its really really old is likely not PCB, a look on the ballast will usually say does NOT contain PCB ( look hard usually really tiny writing in the corner of the sticker ) , if its unmarked well then sneak it into the garbage or be responsible and find a proper bin for it, some recycle yards will take a few from home owners, but the big shops pay to dispose of those.
the nasty tar thats leaking out, unless its really really old is likely not PCB, a look on the ballast will usually say does NOT contain PCB ( look hard usually really tiny writing in the corner of the sticker ) , if its unmarked well then sneak it into the garbage or be responsible and find a proper bin for it, some recycle yards will take a few from home owners, but the big shops pay to dispose of those.
If the ballast is older then the late 1970's it prob. had PCB containing capacitors, the black potting compound is not the hazardous material, but if it's oozing out the ballast is overheating & should be replaced. BTW, ballasts manufactured by Advance Transformer or Unversal have a date code stamped on the back of their ballasts, older GE (later Valmont) you need a cheat sheet to decode their date code, just tossing in some useless info.
dittle fart around
Well-known member
Ballast have to match the bulb size. If you have T-12 bulbs use a T-12 ballast. It's easy to switch to T-8 if that's the size ballast you have. Just follow the wiring diagram on the ballast. Power into the ballast and wire the ballast in parallel with the bulbs.