T12 ballast replacement

At my workplace we have several of the old style magnetic ballasts that need replacing for the flourescent fixtures with T12 lamps. I guess I'll be wanting to replace them with electronic ballasts since the old style magnetic is not generally available anymore. I see that there are some apparently appropriate replacement electronic ballasts available with the same amount and same color of wires coming out of them as my old magnetic ballasts, and that's what I would want to get so as not to get confused when wiring in the replacements. The replacement ballasts are described as "rapid start" type and are "residential grade" and require "non-shunted sockets". However, my workplace is not "residential", so of course that to me seems like the ones I'm considering are probably not appropriate? I realize ideally I'd want to get rid of the T12 fixtures altogether (or retrofit for other than T12), and probably will eventually, but for now I just wanna get replacement T12 ballasts.
Specifically, I'm considering replacing Advance HM-140-1-TP with Advance RELB-1S40-SC
and replacing Advance RQM 2S40-3-TP with Advance RELB-2S40-N.
Any comments/advice appreciated. Thanks
Also, we have some 2' T8 fixtures that need ballast too. The old ballast in those is the Advance REL 4P32-SC and I'm considering replacing with what is available, that being the Advance IOP-4P32-SC, but those particular replacement bulbs are supposedly "electronic high efficiency" but the T8 bulbs we use in these T8 fixtures are not the "high efficiency" type, so not sure about that either. comments?

 

I can't really give you exact numbers for the ballasts so I will just be generic.

Most (if not all) T12 fixture ballasts will run 2 lamps per ballast. If your fixture is a 4 lamp fixture, you can change them out with and install 1 - 4 lamp, T8 ballasts. You would wire them just like the wiring diagram on the ballast. Each socket are not shunted, and have two wires coming from each of them. All you need to do is wire nut each pair from the socket together, along with the appropriate wire coming off the ballast.

To retrofit your 8' T12 fixtures, you can buy a retrofit kit that will change a 2 lamp T12 fixture to a 4 lamp T8 fixture. All you replace is the "guts". Check your local electrical supply house or Google online "T12 retrofit kit"

I have easily have done over 1000 of these type of retrofits, on a variety of light fixtures, but was always supplied the parts to do the change out. I never had to buy anything.

Be sure to check with your local power company. Many times there are rebates for doing these type of retrofits in a company that will shorten the payback in energy savings to only a few years. They also might be able to help in choosing the best equipment for your application.

I hope this helps!

 

T Ironhand,
Thanks for your helpful reply. I think we're not quite ready to do much retrofitting of our T12 fixtures to T8 at this point, although we may do a few to see how it works out. Our T12 fixtures (all 4') happen to be the type that run 3 lamps, and in each fixture there's two separate ballasts, one for 1 lamp, and one for 2 lamps. My confusion/uncertainty at this point, in regard to replacing the T12 ballasts with newer T12 ballasts, is the fact that I have the old magnetic type ballasts and the newer ones are all electronic, and some of which are rapid start and some of which are instant start. The rapid start seem to definitely have the same wiring, although for some reason they say best for residential.

 

Sure "best for residential"

Because the commercial ones cost more.

I don't think they make an electronic ballast for three F-48 T-12 lamps.

Very easy to install a three lamp ballast. You can convert to T-8 tubes just by changing the tubes and the ballast. Couldn't be much easier. The sockets will work just fine.

With the new type electronic ballasts.... rapid start or instant start isn't a concern.
The old style ballast worked by preheating the filament in the tube. With the new ballasts.....the pins at the socket ends get combined. Instead of preheating an element.....they blast a high voltage thru the tube to strike the arc.

 

I have used these in commercial spaces (120 volt only) with normal T12 lamps and they work just fine. GE 4 ft. 2-Lamp 120-Volt T12 Electronic Replacement Ballast-GE240RS120R-DIY at The Home Depot

IMO - I would pull out the T12 ballast as they fail, and replace with 3 lamp, T8 ballasts, and T8 lamps. (be sure to get the same color, 3500k = warm white 4100k = cool white) That way the cost will be spread out over time. It would also cost less than 2 replacement ballasts I posted ($30 total for two T12 compaired to one T8 3 lamp = $20)

Lastly you will be very happy with the increased light output of the T8's and the energy savings.

 

PJmax,
Actually our 3-lamp T12 fixtures use F40 lamps, not F48 (although I am unclear about the difference. I just know the lamps say F40 on them). And I wasn't necessarily looking for a single T12 electronic ballast that would work for three lamps, I had been just considering replacing the two separate magnetic ballasts in each fixture with two separate T-12 electronic ones. But now I think a better idea would be to simply convert the two old T12 ballasts to a single three-lamp T8 electronic ballast instead, as you mentioned, if it's not complicated.

 

It's not complicated at all. Just follow the diagram on the ballast. As I mentioned, if there is two wires coming from a socket, just splice them together along with the proper ballast wire.

If you have any questions, you know where to find us.

 

That depends. The 3-lamp, 2-ballast fixtures were designed to be energy saving fixtures. When they were installed to use that design feature, there would be a pair of wall switches for each fixture of group of fixtures. One of the switches - it should be the one closer to the door frame - controls the single-tube ballast(s) and the other switch controls the two-tube ballast(s). That way, the occupants could choose to use no light, 1/3 of the light, 2/3 of the light or all of the light, depending on how much natural light was coming at the time.

If your fixtures are wired this way, it will save you both energy and money to replace the existing ballasts with the corresponding electronic ones. If not, the payback on changing them to work this way is probably a few decades in the future.

 

Nashkat,
Our 3-lamp, 2 ballast fixtures are apparently not wired to work as as you described. The switch(s) for these fixtures turns the 3 lamps in each fixture all on, or all off, no choice to use 1/3 or 2/3.

 

Doing a little shopping, I came up with this example Electronic Ballast - Ballasts - Lighting - Grainger Industrial Supply as perhaps a feasible choice? That's assuming we wanted to use normal output lamps and not the high output type.

 

Sorry......I had F-48 on the brain today. An F-48 is a single end pin lamp..... just like the 8' tubes. It's a higher output than a F-40 which is a dual pin lamp.

I just changed a bunch of F-48's today. Try like 15.00 a tube

 

Sgull, when I followed your link I was on a page that had links to a lot of different ballasts. This was the first one I saw in that list that's designed to power 3 lamps - 3 T-8 lamps, that is. Is this the one you had in mind?

PHILIPS ADVANCE Electronic Ballast, T8 Lamps, 120/277V

 

Gotta love F-48s - when I'm on the supply end!

 

Nashkat,
Yeah I didn't realize my link was gonna show the whole page of different ballasts. Not sure which one I was looking at but I don't think it was the one shown in your link. Mine wasn't quite so expensive, but the one I was looking at was for 3 T8 lamps, normal output. Seems to me a feasible endeavor to go ahead and convert the 2-ballast T12 to a 1-ballast T8.

 

I was considering this one GE LIGHTING Electronic Ballast, T8 Lamps, 120V - Electronic Ballasts - 1PCW1|GE-332-120-N - Grainger Industrial Supply

 

If that'll work for you, go for it. The way I buy stuff like this is to pull one of the old ones, drive over to the supply house, and throw it on the counter. I tell them, "This is what I have in the ceiling now, and what I want to have is... What do you have that will get me there?"

I go to three or four supply houses before I go to Grainger, BTW. It pretty much has to only be available at Grainger for me to buy something there. I can have materials drop-shipped overnight to my job site from any of my regular supply houses and save money over buying it across the counter at Grainger.

 

Nashkat, in my particular location which is a relatively remote small community in SE Alaska, there really are no "supply houses" to drive over to and throw it on the counter. There's a hardware store with limited selection of such items as ballasts and not much variety kept on stock, so something like this is almost always a "special order" through them (and if I'm lucky the clerk might even know what a ballast is) or typically I'll need to acquire via suppliers such as Grainger. If I can get it cheaper than Grainger elsewhere (which is frequently the case) of course I go that route. The ballast example I posted from Grainger was just for quick example, checking with the forum here if that particular style/type would probably be a decent choice for the conversion I'm considering. But yeah I guess one like this should work for me then, so I'll go for it. Thanks.

 

Well, yes, that is a different situation. I would try entering the specs for something I liked in a search string and seeing what hits I got, but I imagine you're already doing that.

 

Thanks to all who posted. All the information was very helpful to me. I'll get some of the appropriate T8 ballasts coming and do some conversion. Will keep ya posted.

 

Take a look at McMaster-Carr. We are doing a large ballast changeout in stages & they have everything at good prices. With that said, please know I have no connection to them. I just like their variety and prices
Andy

 

Sgull - That ones you posted from Grainger should work fine but still seam a little pricy to me. You should be able to get them for less than $25 each.

Here is one I found by just searching on google: IOPA-3P32-LW-SC - Philips 3 lamp 120-277v T8 Fluorescent Ballast for $20.54

 

Yeah Grainger is always pricey for everything. My workplace happens to have an account with them so I just found some to show as an example of the size/type ballast I was considering, for the sake of checking opinion of forum here whether those type should work fine. Definitely on a larger scale ballast change-out I'd be looking at some of the other suppliers such as just mentioned. Thanks!

 

If you (your workplace) has an account with them, there is usually a discount as well, so that may change things a bit. Good Luck!