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wrote:
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.

Sure, usually it just blows out the lamp though. The ballast windings
break down and short out. They can overheat and stink but usually the
small ones have no physical signs of damage.