life expectancy of ballasts

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marinesgt0411

Senior Member
can high voltage 284 volts on a 277 volt ballast shorten its life.

went on a service call this morning had to replace 4 ballasts owner said three days ago had to replace 5 ballasts and a week ago had to replace 3

he has 23 more light fixtures

is it a voltage problem or are the ballast just bad in that shippment of lights

if it is a voltage problem how do I drop the voltage to closer to 277

lights are only about a year old
 

roger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Fl
Occupation
Retired Electrician
Re: life expectancy of ballasts

Sarge, I don't think it's a high voltage problem, we have a number of installations where the voltage is high, (as high as 292) and don't have an abnormal failure rate of ballast.

I would look at the ballast manufacturer, or other problems at the site. (surges, grounded conductor connections, bonding of the fixtures, etc...)

Roger
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Re: life expectancy of ballasts

284 is not anything to worry about on a 277 volt circuit. I would look for another cause.
 

marinesgt0411

Senior Member
Re: life expectancy of ballasts

surges maybe, bad ballasts more likely

installed 90% of these light fixtures myself about a year ago so I know that all conections are good double checked the connections on about 10 fixtures because wanted to know if anyone had messed with them since I installed them.

just got another call that three more have gone out will be going there Monday to replace ballasts custermer doesnt want to pay emergency call rates but would like to know what problem is.

in a year will he have to replace ballasts again?

The ones that have been replaced there have been no more problems with ( by the way differant brand)
 

charlie tuna

Senior Member
Location
Florida
Re: life expectancy of ballasts

sarg,
you got a batch of bad ballasts! happened to us about two years ago. we had replaced fixtures in a prison with dual voltage electronic ballasts. about three months they lost a few ballasts -- a pain--but hay -- it happens. then they called and told me ten fixtures were out! now these ballasts were dual voltage 120/277 volt and my way of thinking was that they were possibly seeing a surge and shifting to 277 volts and then not returning to the normal source voltage of 120 volts??? we lost 27 fixtures out of eighty -- at that point i went in and changed all the ballasts -- to single voltage electronic ballasts. the supply house provided the ballasts and the manufacturer paid our labor. access in a prison is very expensive....
 

marinesgt0411

Senior Member
Re: life expectancy of ballasts

Thank you for the replys

will pass the bad ballasts up to my bosses they can do what they want with them. I have a few suggestions but they probly will not like them.

will also try to explain the problem to the custermer withuot sticking my foot in my mouth and causing him to think this should be a warrenty issue.

tell him that removeing the duel voltage ballasts and changeing them to 277 volt ballasts should give him longer life

thank you
 

doyle

Member
Re: life expectancy of ballasts

Were the ballast sylvania? If so they had a major problem with ballast around a year or so ago.
 
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