electronic ballast

theboyhurley

I am replacing a ballast in a bathroom light fixture.

The old one was 2 way, 13w, and I was not able to get an exact replacement.

The closest I could get was a 4 way 14w.

The wiring was a little different, instead of 4 wires to each bulb, there are 3, and a shared return.

See image below for the wiring setup.

However the second image shows my problem.
There is clearly power to both bulbs, but only one is fully lit.

I have swapped bulbs, and the issue is not the bulbs.
I have swapped the position of the wires from bulb a to bulb b, and the problem moves from bulb a to bulb b.

I am not sure what the fault is.
Any suggestions?

theboyhurley

Wiring setup:
i.imgur.com/pNR8z6X.jpg

My problem, one bulb on, the other half lit:
i.imgur.com/GyGLp22.jpg

aido79

theboyhurley wrote: »

I am replacing a ballast in a bathroom light fixture.

The old one was 2 way, 13w, and I was not able to get an exact replacement.

The closest I could get was a 4 way 14w.

The wiring was a little different, instead of 4 wires to each bulb, there are 3, and a shared return.

See image below for the wiring setup.

However the second image shows my problem.
There is clearly power to both bulbs, but only one is fully lit.

I have swapped bulbs, and the issue is not the bulbs.
I have swapped the position of the wires from bulb a to bulb b, and the problem moves from bulb a to bulb b.

I am not sure what the fault is.
Any suggestions?

I have no idea what you mean by a 2 way or 4 way ballast. You say the bulbs share a return but on the diagram on the ballast it shows that they have separate returns(I assume you mean negatives or neutrals. This may be your problem. The negative for the first bulb needs to come from terminal 3 and the negative for the other needs to come from terminal 4.

theboyhurley

aido79 wrote: »

I have no idea what you mean by a 2 way or 4 way ballast. You say the bulbs share a return but on the diagram on the ballast it shows that they have separate returns(I assume you mean negatives or neutrals. This may be your problem. The negative for the first bulb needs to come from terminal 3 and the negative for the other needs to come from terminal 4.

My terminology is incorrect, Yes I mean neutral/negative.
By 2 way/4 way I mean supporting 2 or 4 bulbs.

But your response seems sound. I have both terminal 4s tied together rather than a 3 and a 4.
I'll try your suggestion later.

thanks.

aido79

theboyhurley wrote: »

My terminology is incorrect, Yes I mean neutral/negative.
By 2 way/4 way I mean supporting 2 or 4 bulbs.

But your response seems sound. I have both terminal 4s tied together rather than a 3 and a 4.
I'll try your suggestion later.

thanks.

Ah I see what you mean now. Give that a go anyway and let me know if it works.

theboyhurley

You were almost right

It was not the case that terminal 3 needed to connect to terminal 4, that did not matter (even thought that's how I left it).
It was that I had the terminals inserted 123123 (or 123124), where they needed to be 123321 (or 123421).
So I misread the layout.

But I would not have figured it if not for your suggestion, so you still get the credit, thanks!!

marc.

aido79

theboyhurley wrote: »

You were almost right

It was not the case that terminal 3 needed to connect to terminal 4, that did not matter (even thought that's how I left it).
It was that I had the terminals inserted 123123 (or 123124), where they needed to be 123321 (or 123421).
So I misread the layout.

But I would not have figured it if not for your suggestion, so you still get the credit, thanks!!

marc.

Good stuff. I'm glad you got it working but not really sure what you mean by 123321. I didn't suggest connecting 3 and 4 together. I said connect 3 to one tube and 4 to the other as it has in the diagram but well done getting it working.