Florescent light ballast.....

[55fairlane]

I am really thinking the guy Who invented these is a sadistic b!!!!!!!strd, it amazes me how such a simple job is such a PIA.....you need 3 hands, a flip back neck, and not be afraid of all the dirt that falls from these old lights

Joy is me, tomorrow I get to do even more.....

Aaron

 

[1911ly]

Wait till you get one fail in an area the boss says "you gotta do it now". You remove the cover and the smoke is still rolling out. Grab the welding gloves.... Grr... I really don't miss those days, I feel your pain!

 

[55fairlane]

I had one once, that caught fire, and was leaking hot oil out of it as I was changing it.....wow did it make a mess as I let it drop free (from 35 feet up) it hit the floor, still smoking hot....OMG......the starters in the old sodium high bay lights aren' any fun either

 

[1911ly]

I had one once, that caught fire, and was leaking hot oil out of it as I was changing it.....wow did it make a mess as I let it drop free (from 35 feet up) it hit the floor, still smoking hot....OMG......the starters in the old sodium high bay lights aren' any fun either

Yep, stink to high heaven. I laid it out side and it was still heat soaked 3 hours later. You could hardly pick it up. What a mess to scrape that crap out of a cover. You can't hardly get it all. We had 2 fail like that in a few months time. They were really old. I stupidly suggested replacing all of them. Probably 40 or so lights. Scary thing is about half of them were tripping potting. Good call in the end. Even if it was a chore. Like you, I hated those things after the first few.

 

[1911ly]

I didn't play much with Sodium Lights. I did drop a new one from about 35ft. Boss wasn't to happy. We were working towards getting rid of those when I left. I left early enough to not have to dail with them :-)

 

[nra4ever]

Not worth the trouble. Replace the whole unit with LED

 

[actaeon277]

I found out while working in a nasty mill, when working above your head and looking up, KEEP THE MOUTH CLOSED, and GLASSES ON.

Or the dirt will get you.


And we used to do things energized.
Now, they'll hang you, unless it is a specifically authorized instance.
Bosses and workers violating that have been let go.

 

[Bennettjh]

Ballasts are the reason for the saying "getting to it is the hardest part."

 

[55fairlane]

I have to do some of our lights "hot" ( energized) the 120VT units aren't bad, the 177 & 208 units suck....

LED lights are the way to go, but I have a life time supply of bulbs and ballasts, so as long as we have them, i will keep changing them

A sodium light vs. Gravity from 35 feet......what a mess......

 

[actaeon277]

Our Motor Inspectors (Electricians) have been slowly changing the mill over to LED.
There is a serious change in electrical usage, when you consider we cover 10 square miles.
Most of the lighting is in buildings, but certain spaces between buildings require lights. And these buildings are the sizes of city blocks.
I appreciate the upgrade in the amount of light. I can see better since they upgrade the amount of light.

 

[2A_Tom]

Our maintenence staff spent the better part of two years removing every ballast and changing to no ballast LEDs and every bulb to LED.

We have realized a savings or $40,000 a month.

 

[femurphy77]

Gotta love the new electronic ballasts!

 

[femurphy77]

Our maintenence staff spent the better part of two years removing every ballast and changing to no ballast LEDs and every bulb to LED.

We have realized a savings or $40,000 a month.

How many square feet?

 

[Tactically Fat]

I just got rid of a BOAT LOAD of florescent fixtures and tube lights the other day. They were all over my "back garage". The shop is now LED (only 4x "5500 lumen" LED lights...for now). There'll be another LED light above the work bench, too, eventually.

Man / front car garage still has 2x 6' florescent fixtures. They're next on the list to be converted to LED.

 

[2A_Tom]

If you get the no balast led tubes, all you do is remove the balast and wire the bulb holders hot (either one end or both) the bulbs contain their own transformer. you might get a deal from your electric company. We bought 4000 for 50 cents a piece, just before the y went up to 1 dollar.

I can not say what the ft[SUP]2 [/SUP]is, but we own the best part of 3 city blocks in Hammond.

We did have hundreds of 250 watt halogen bulbs and the leds draw 30 watts.

 

[Alamo]

The owners of the storage facility I manage switched from old sodium outdoor lights to LEDs a year (maybe two?) ago. They said it cut the monthly electricity bill in half. Not quite as much light out there, but enough for our purposes.

 

[Wolfhound]

I switched my pole barn from florescent to LED. Brighter, instant on, cold doesn't effect it and uses less electricity. I will never change another ballast again.