GEC Z9533 control gear.
The only lantern out of the 3 removed examples to retain its original gear. Over time these elderly ballasts lose their ability to strike SOX lamps, with other more prone problems being that they like to randomly short to earth or just burn out. Seeing that the only other original ballast was disconnected entirely, and the other lantern had a set of thorn gear lashed in, i was dubious about putting power to this one. Thankfully after much testing, the ballast seemed fine, so power was applied, immediately revealing the aforementioned striking issues. It works fine, with the usual expected buzzing.

GEC Z9533 control gear.

The only lantern out of the 3 removed examples to retain its original gear. Over time these elderly ballasts lose their ability to strike SOX lamps, with other more prone problems being that they like to randomly short to earth or just burn out. Seeing that the only other original ballast was disconnected entirely, and the other lantern had a set of thorn gear lashed in, i was dubious about putting power to this one. Thankfully after much testing, the ballast seemed fine, so power was applied, immediately revealing the aforementioned striking issues. It works fine, with the usual expected buzzing.

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fluorescent   [04 Jun, 2018 at 09:23 PM]
The buzzing may quieten down with some use. That ballast in that 250w Benjamin control gear box was extremely buzzy when first powered up but calmed down after a few hours use and didn't return
Ash   [23 Jun, 2018 at 12:53 AM]
Self healing film capacitors are made on the edge in regards to the film's ability to withstand overvoltages. The capacitors degrade over time from a small breakdown every once in a while, and their capacity goes down. This could then cause the striking issues

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