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Replacing ballast in fluorescent lights - of course, the new one's different....

Replacing ballast in fluorescent lights - of course, the new one's different....


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Old 07-19-17, 04:59 PM
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Replacing ballast in fluorescent lights - of course, the new one's different....

Hey all - I've got two overhead lights over my workbench that have given up. New bulbs didn't change anything, so I've got two new ballasts (one for each fixture, and two bulbs per fixture) to try.

I figured it would be as simple as wire-nutting the new one in, but they're different. Here's the old ballast:

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And here's the new one:

Name:  newballast.jpg
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So for the left side I'm guessing black/black, white/yellow and red/blue (might be wrong though?), but on the right side of the old one there's two red and two blue - new one just has three blue. Any ideas? I'd be happy to get better pictures of the little diagrams on each one if it would be helpful.

Sorry for the dumb question - there's a reason I never became an electrician!! Thanks very much for the help.
 
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Old 07-19-17, 06:58 PM
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Technically you bought the wrong ballast. The new one is three tube.

Connect the two reds at one end together to any blue ballast wire.
Connect the two blues at the same end together with another blue ballast wire.
Cap off the third blue ballast wire.
Connect the red ballast wire to all wires at the opposite end.
 
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Old 07-19-17, 07:00 PM
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300% correct! You, sir, know what you're doing. Sigh...back to Home Depot for the correct parts
 
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Old 07-20-17, 06:30 AM
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When you get the correct part, just follow the wiring diagram shown on the ballast
 
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Old 07-20-17, 07:20 AM
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And the old and new are both T8, right? Can't make it out on the old one.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 08:38 AM
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Take them back and just replace with LED bulbs and skip repairing old tech lights.

One you get LED, especially shop lamps you will never go back!

Increasable lights!!!
 
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Old 07-20-17, 08:56 AM
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But if you do that be sure the LEDs you buy do not need a ballast. Some do some don't.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 09:06 AM
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I have just swapped over 10 of the fixtures in my office to LED's. No ballast was required with the bulbs I got. I just cut the wires to the ballast in the fixture and hooked up the wires according to the instructions that came with the LED bulbs. It took less than 10 minutes.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 04:05 PM
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But if you do that be sure the LEDs you buy do not need a ballast. Some do some don't.
I noticed just last week that Lowes has both types now. I don't remember for sure, but seems like they were around $8 each for those that do not require a ballast......4 footers.
 
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Old 07-20-17, 04:58 PM
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Not sure why you would use the ballest types, sort of defeats the entire purpose.

I've converted over 5 shop/basement lights, only ones left are the 8' HO 95W bulbs in the garage, interesting, the cost for those big bulbs are not very cheap to convert.
 
 

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