writes:

On 31 Jan 2006 15:24:03 -0500, Sam Goldwasser
wrote:

writes:

Can an old (30 yrs) ballast end up by quickly burning out new
starters? (This is in a 12" 32W circline bathroom fixture.)

Would an old ballast have any telltale signs if it is malfunctioning?
Would it have that burnt smell itself? Thanks.

The light stopped working, so I replaced the ballast. No difference.
So I opened the old and new starter cans (both are FS12) and both
looked and smelled burnt. I don't know if the new starter was
defective when I bought it, but it did provide a really slow start.

Did you also replace the lamp?

yes. They were matched by the guy at the hardware store. The lamp is
32 W and is, I think, T9. I can pull it down and look if that's
crucial. I just put in a new starter, and everything works fine so
far.

(Except... the fixture is not grounded, and never was. It does take
several tries to start. I saw that the FAQ says that the extra
capacitance from grounding is helpful on starting.) Thanks.

With a starter, that isn't critical. If the fixture behaves normally,
I kind of doubt that the ballast is bad.

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