had a dubble 20w years ago brand new
and the ballast was getting hotter than normal
thinking that ok new fitting, went out came back
home and found the 2 tubes exploded all over
the bench defuser blowen off hanging one side.
ballast shorted turn and to ground
paint black on outside of fitting.
40 watt ballast for 2x20watt.


"RichK" wrote in message
. ..
Hi all,

Have 2 light fixtures in a garage, with 4 fluorescent bulbs in each (4ft).
Each 2 bulbs are supported by one magnetic ballast.

The ballast is Rapid Start Magnatek 446-L-SLH-TC-P as below:

Description: Electromagnetic ballast for (2) fluorescent lamps as
indicated
below:
. Line Voltage: 120 vac, + 5%, - 10%, 60Hz . Rapid Start
. Series Lamp Operation . High Power Factor

The lights got dimmer over time and now only one glows, others do not
work.
The ballasts are about 10 years old.

Do the ballast "get weaker" over time? What is the most likely failure
mode? Is there a way to test them with VOM?

Regards,

RichK