Why cant my ballast power the actinic bulbs properly?

[Tarolisol]

Well i have this ballast that hold two 48" florecents. It came from home depot. But its having trouble powering the actinic lights what the hells up with this. The flicker and never power up fully. Also the ends on one are getting Black.

[TANGOMAN]

I've encountered that problem many times. With both DIY configurations as well as the "Hardware store" version.
I gave up looking for answers and went to electronic ballasts...

[Bob I]

You might wanrt to check your wiring. In addition some years ago there was a certain type of bulb which picked up its ground from the metal reflector. Its sounds like a grounding problem, but don't hold me to that. :eek:

[Tarolisol]

I though grounding at first as well, but this is a compleat ballast with bround and everything, i guess ill deal with it for a week and get myself a nice big VHO ballast from JL.

[StirCrazy]

is there a label on the ballast? this has info on it we need to be able to answer your question, like is it magnetic or electronic, what is the rating for the ballast, what configurations can it handle, what size/type of bulbs is it made for, and Finely what type of starting does it use (rapid, instant or preheat).

Steve

[Invigor]

my guess is it's a magnetic t12 ballast :P they don't like t8s. 10s seemed to run fine for me on a t12 ballast tho

if you want a VHO ballast, get a workhorse 7, much cheaper than a vho ballast from JL :mrgreen:

[danny zubot]

Rich tg had this problem with a Rona type balast. He would have to rub the bulbs sometimes to get them to fire. Had something to do with static if that makes sense to anyone. Also, they would never fire if they had any moisture on them.

[Tarolisol]

Im not sure what kind of balasst it is, they are suppose to be instand on though. It say will power 2 t8s 2 t10 or 2 t12s, i have t10s in it.