The Lamp Room

I am fairly certain that SRS ballasts, don't work if wired with a starter motor
I have an old EKCO 40w quickstart fitting, the capacitor has gone virtually dead short & does a good impersonation of a heater when wired across the main supply.. & now the quick start unit has gone bad & sends current to earth. The ballast seems fine, but I am not really to worried about saving it as a QS fitting, as I am running out of T12 tubes anyhow. Can the ballast be wired for switch start (either 2x20w, or 1x40w) is my question.

Yeah there is a way to do that, i have a fitting in my cupboard at home that i had to do this with. If you can post photos of the ballast as it is then someone here will be able to help you.

The ballast for Quickstart should be the same as for Switchstart. It's just a choke. The QS transformer primary would be connected from its output to Neutral. Take the QS transformer away and you can put the starter across the tube instead.

As above, yes can be done. BUT a word of caution.... If the QS side has gone bad, bear in mind the ballast side is going to be the same age. If it's an internal breakdown of the insulation, it's possible it might affect this side of the unit too, particularly if it's overheated at some point. If you're going to try this, test it out on a tube that's nothing special first, just in case it blows the cathoses out of the tube.