Nedap Transtar Emergency Ballast?

[Beta 5]

Anyone heard of this brand before?
Just got an emergency combo self test one in a twin 18W Chalmit Protecta III explosion proof fitting. Quite a complex thing which carries out multiple self test and lamp EOL checking functions and is huge compared with other gear.

Hopefully fairly reliable seeing as it's for use in hazardous environments! According to the supplied data sheet is carries out a self test every 13 days, then a full duration test every 102 days. Seems quite an interesting unit.

[Slyspark]

Looks like it's just a potted Transtar unit

[Beta 5]

Indeed, definitely seems to be potted. Did Transtar make these EM combo HF ballasts in a normal form factor too?
It's also interesting that it only has a single connection to each end of the tube, so seems to be an instant start unit.

When the switched live is energised the non emergency lamp lights first followed by the emergency lamp a couple of seconds after, there is the same lag when switching off where the non EM lamp goes off immediately and the EM lamp goes out a couple of seconds after.
There is a minute delay before it lights the emergency tube when reenergising from emergency mode after the permanent live is cut too.

[Kev]

Never seen this before

[Beta 5]

First for me too, I was just expecting the usual Tridonic EM34B or similar arrangement!
There is quite a list of the different fault/status indications on the supplied info sheet too.

[Slyspark]

Anything used in an Ex rated fitting is always going to be over-engineered, as is the case here....

[Beta 5]

Yes it's probably one of the few places where quality hasn't been cut back to the bare minimum in electrical products!

[Beta 5]

Well it seems the battery this came with is dead, after a 24 hour charge up the indicator is now flashing the battery fault code.
Testing it shows the battery lasts about 20 minutes, after a few minutes the indicator flashes red/green to state there is 15 minutes of run time left and then the tube went out.
I will give it another recharge and see if it improves, if not it will be a new battery.
Fortunately inside the large plastic tube that says do not open (lol) is just a standard Saft 5 cell 4.2Ah Ni-Cd stick so a replacement should be easy enough.

[Nick217]

Nicads love deep cycles so may revive with more cycling.

[Beta 5]

Yeah I’ll give it a try. It does cut off when the battery reaches a certain level so may be better to use a basic emergency module to flatten it fully and then recharge again?