10-03-2017, 09:35 AM
One of note, we went though a spate of the upstairs bathroom fluro unit eating tubes like they were going out of fashion. This bathroom is only used for toiletary and hand washing duties, there was no steam at any time from showers etc. so we knew that damp wasn't eating the backside out of the unit.
After the third tube going futt with a big blue flash at the electrode ends I'd had enough, dropped the tube and cover, to find the ballast was cooking. A probe with a meter found the ballast had lost around a third of it's internal resistance, and yes you guessed it, this ballast was made in China. A replacement euro sourced ballast along with a new tube was fitted and normal operation restored. That Chinese ballast had cost me in the end four replacement tubes, all I can surmise is that the insulation between the internal segments was breaking down and gradually reducing it's overall load to the mains coming in.
After the third tube going futt with a big blue flash at the electrode ends I'd had enough, dropped the tube and cover, to find the ballast was cooking. A probe with a meter found the ballast had lost around a third of it's internal resistance, and yes you guessed it, this ballast was made in China. A replacement euro sourced ballast along with a new tube was fitted and normal operation restored. That Chinese ballast had cost me in the end four replacement tubes, all I can surmise is that the insulation between the internal segments was breaking down and gradually reducing it's overall load to the mains coming in.
