2x14W T12 on 15Wx2 T8 ballast

This was the closest ballast I could get for these tubes and it seems to work well with them.
The ballast was quite hot after an hour though which has me worried.
I've never wired 2 lamps in series and I followed the little diagram printed on the ballast.
The lamps did not start as intended and I had to get them to start by taking one of the starters out and bypassing it briefly.
If anyone has any idea on wiring 2 in series let me know as it's all new grounds for me.

The ballast is getting too hot so it's going in the spares for now.
I think it's about time I stopped being lazy buying random ballasts and do some calculations and buy a proper one for these tubes. If not i'll end up sticking with the 18w ballasts.

Keep in mind this is a quick dirty knock-up just to test it.

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Comment 1 to 5 of 5

Page: 1

fluorescent

[07 Sep, 2018 at 12:03 AM]

Live through the ballast onto one of the pins at one end of lamp 1, connect either pin on the other end of lamp 1 to a pin on lamp 2, other end of lamp 2 connect to neutral. Then connect a starter across the remaining pins on lamp 1 and the other starter across lamp 2. You need to use series starters, S10 (4-65w) will not work. It's quite normal for a modern(ish) ballast like the one you're using to run quite hot.

lasagafield

[07 Sep, 2018 at 12:38 AM]

Well I was convinced I was too worried about it so I took the cover off of my swiftpak and left it on for an hour and I don't even want to guess how hot the ballast is right now so it's probably just me worrying. The starters'll be the problem. I didn't know about series starters. The wiring is fine then so i'll keep an eye out for series starters, whack the thing on for 48hrs and see if it sets on fire. Razz

lasagafield

[07 Sep, 2018 at 12:49 AM]

Also what's the difference between single and series starters? What's inside a series one? [edit] NVM, figured it out, the strike voltage is lower on them. Also the 30w ballast has a tw of 130 so i'm probably just being a big wimp.

Funkybulb

[07 Sep, 2018 at 02:42 PM]

here those serie starter have lower OCV to fire on small lamps. here in US it very common starter for short lamps on 120 volts. connecting lamp in series on 240
volt the normal S10 starter dont have enough OCV to fire on 240 volt series circuit. so that there S2 starters. it same starter that American use for single lamp operation on 120 volts Using FS2 starter. keep in mind these 14 watt lamps only need 40 volt OCV so it. as normal 15 watt around 55 arc volts. so expect ballast to run bit hotter.

lasagafield

[07 Sep, 2018 at 03:34 PM]

I've left it on over night and it seems to run fine. I would like to get a thermometer on it though. Just ordered some series starters so I can finally start on making a fitting for these.

Comment 1 to 5 of 5

Page: 1