Philips HF-Basic II Instant Start Ballast

I've never seen these before, but apparently I own a few of them lol! These have replaced the burned out Chinese Helvar HF ballasts in some Thorn Aquaforce fittings I'm currently repairing/re-gearing. The fittings will not be switched regularly so the instant cold start shouldn't be an issue.

These really do instant start too, as soon as the fitting's powered up the tubes strike with a horrible purple glow around the unhappy cathodes momentarily!

Interestingly there's no mention of EOL protection, I suspect this would roast EOL tubes!

Philips HF-Basic II Instant Start Ballast


I've never seen these before, but apparently I own a few of them lol! These have replaced the burned out Chinese Helvar HF ballasts in some Thorn Aquaforce fittings I'm currently repairing/re-gearing. The fittings will not be switched regularly so the instant cold start shouldn't be an issue.

These really do instant start too, as soon as the fitting's powered up the tubes strike with a horrible purple glow around the unhappy cathodes momentarily!

Interestingly there's no mention of EOL protection, I suspect this would roast EOL tubes!

DSC05601.JPG DSC05600.JPG IMG_20200717_164939.jpg Helvar_Fail.jpg DSC02658.JPG
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FrontSideBus   [21 Jul, 2020 at 12:44 AM]
More than likely the EOL lamps will roast the ballast lol.
XmasLightGuy   [21 Jul, 2020 at 06:15 AM]
If these are like the US instant-start HF ballasts, they will absolutely fry an EOL lamp Laughing
Less chance of killing the ballast if it has one good lamp when an EOL happens.
Slyspark   [21 Jul, 2020 at 10:28 AM]
I'm not sure what Philips were thinking when they came out with these. This from the company that brought us the HF Performer, which is actually a decent ballast!
fluorescent   [09 Aug, 2020 at 10:31 PM]
I think these came out of new fittings to be replaced with LED tubes. I wonder if these were OEM only and not usually sold on their own? Just a thought
Oliver   [09 Aug, 2020 at 10:39 PM]
The HF Performers were excellent! So were the HF Matchbox ballasts. Some Maintained emergency lights used the HF Matchbox Reds to run the 8w tube.

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