Tim Wescott fired this volley in
:

I'd also wonder if you got some counterfeits, thanks to some
enterprising Chinese entrepreneur.

Could be; but if so, Ace Hardware has a _real_problem_, because they're
listed as sourced directly from Philips.

I have searched more, and still cannot find any negatives on that
particular ballast. It's made in Mehiko. The ones I got are probably
just a bad batch. Probably something stupid like the one worker who's
supposed to solder in the one fuse was out sick that day, so they just
skipped his/her station. It's probably just flopping loose in the pcb
holes, waiting to arc the copper off the pads 'til it can't make contact
anymore. The fourth of them is still performing to spec.

They took them back (of course), and I know the store manager. He's
going to contact Philips directly (Ace lets their managers go around
distribution when there's a problem). All the failed ones are the same
manufacturing code, so there ought to be some info available.

Lloyd


Lloyd