American Locomotive
Well-known member
My basement is currently lit with four, 4ft dual bulb T12 fixtures. About 6 or so years ago some bulbs went out, so I decided to do one last "fluorescent hurrah". I ordered 8 Sylvania 941 bulbs, which were probably the most advanced, most efficient and best T12 bulbs you could get. Full 40w power, 90 CRI, tri-color phosphor, 3000 lumens, yaddah yaddah. Basically T5-esque phosphor technology in a T12 bulb.
Anyways, shortly after I installed the bulbs, one of the magnetic rapid start ballasts in a fixture failed. I replaced it with an electronic ballast I purchased online. Cut to 6 years later, and things are a bit interesting:
On every one of the fixtures with a rapid start magnetic ballast, one bulb out of the pair is significantly dimmer with very black bulb ends. If you swap the bright/dim bulb positions, the dim bulb stays dim. So it appears that the bulb itself is damaged and starting to fail. However, on the fixture with the electronic ballast, both bulbs are still near full brightness, with very little blackening of the tube ends.
So I guess my question is two fold: Is it typical for a rapid start ballast asymmetrically wear the bulbs, and is it typical for them to be much harder on bulbs than electronic ballasts?
This is a more "academic" question than anything, as all of the lights will be getting replaced with LED when they finally fully fail. I just found it interesting that the magnetic ballasts seem to be damaging the bulbs compared to the electronic ballast.
Anyways, shortly after I installed the bulbs, one of the magnetic rapid start ballasts in a fixture failed. I replaced it with an electronic ballast I purchased online. Cut to 6 years later, and things are a bit interesting:
On every one of the fixtures with a rapid start magnetic ballast, one bulb out of the pair is significantly dimmer with very black bulb ends. If you swap the bright/dim bulb positions, the dim bulb stays dim. So it appears that the bulb itself is damaged and starting to fail. However, on the fixture with the electronic ballast, both bulbs are still near full brightness, with very little blackening of the tube ends.
So I guess my question is two fold: Is it typical for a rapid start ballast asymmetrically wear the bulbs, and is it typical for them to be much harder on bulbs than electronic ballasts?
This is a more "academic" question than anything, as all of the lights will be getting replaced with LED when they finally fully fail. I just found it interesting that the magnetic ballasts seem to be damaging the bulbs compared to the electronic ballast.