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Fixing Outdoor Pepsi Sign

Zrxpilot

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Joined
Nov 19, 2011
Messages
62
Bought a 3' x 4' pepsi sign to hang inside the garage at a swap meet. Hooked it up and it worked great for awhile. Old sign from back in the 70's I would guess.

Low and behold a few days later it quit working. Assumed the ballast was toast as it was very rusty. It is so rusty that I cannot make out any identification.

Anways, it has qty 3, t/12 42" HO bulbs in it.

Had nothing to lose and tried a new spare ballast that I had left over from a previous project. Used a ballast that was intended for a qty 2 bulb 8' T-12 HO.

It works fine but only two of the 3 bulbs light up. The 3rd bulb is not blown as I rotated them inside the sign to confirm this.

Wondering if maybe thats how it works. You have two bulb ballasts and 3 bulb ballasts. Maybe not. I dont know. Seems it would have worked tho. Perhaps there is a way to wire this. I connected the yellow to yellow, blue to blue, red to red....

The sign actually works very well even with just two bulbs running. No buzzing.

Thinking perhaps there is a way to re-wire this. Maybe not. Just asking.
 
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Mustang51js

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Jan 24, 2014
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Location
Haskell nj
Need a 3 bulb ballast for 3 bulb light, you can only do it with a ballast that can handle more bulbs than one that does less. If me I would swap it out for a 3 bulb t8 ballast and switch the bulbs
 

Norcal

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Mar 16, 2008
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13,769
If the ballast is toast, then you need a plastic sign ballast that can drive the quantity & footage of those lamps, and if ballast is replaced the lamps should be also.


By "42 inch" lamps I assume they are F48T12/HO?
 
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cybrdyke

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Sep 9, 2014
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3,449
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USA
Philips Advance part number ASB0412-24-BL-TP, if you have 3 4' T12HO tubes.
Any local electrical supplier should have one in stock. You can call around. Dont bother with big box stores, they dont normally have these.
CD
 
OP
Z

Zrxpilot

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Joined
Nov 19, 2011
Messages
62
^ Thank you. Probably don't matter but they are 42" bulbs. Ive never seen them this size. Must be a special thing for signs. The sign casing measures 43". They still work.
 

cybrdyke

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Sep 9, 2014
Messages
3,449
Location
USA
^ Thank you. Probably don't matter but they are 42" bulbs. Ive never seen them this size. Must be a special thing for signs. The sign casing measures 43". They still work.

they use weird things in signs. the ballast number i gave you will still work as long as they are HO lamps.
Should say something like F42T12HO/CW or something like that on the lamp. As long as you have the T12HO part, you're good to go.
CD
 
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