I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

(G) writes:

I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected,
could this cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

Where are you located? What is your line voltage?

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

"G" wrote in message
...
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet" wrote:

"G" wrote in message
...
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you gave
it enough light it would fire.

greg
]

In article , (G) wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
...
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new ballast

greg

In article , (G) wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
.. .
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

greg

In article , (G) wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
. ..
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still does
ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

I ordered another ballast, slightly different. The second ballast didn't seem
to have enough oomph. I did read a open starting voltge almost 200 volts.
It just got loaded down with the tube even though its for a bigger tube ??

I had wonderd if a UV lamp has slightly different requirments, as I found
an old separate listing for Advance UV ballasts. Don't know.

greg

(G) writes:

In article , (G) wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
.. .
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

Look for an AC disconnect on one of the socket pins.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

(G) writes:

In article , (G) wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
. ..
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected, could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small
winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still does
ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

I ordered another ballast, slightly different. The second ballast didn't seem
to have enough oomph. I did read a open starting voltge almost 200 volts.
It just got loaded down with the tube even though its for a bigger tube ??

I had wonderd if a UV lamp has slightly different requirments, as I found
an old separate listing for Advance UV ballasts. Don't know.

Don't know for sure but a UV lamp is just a normal lamp without the
phosphor and probably in a quartz envelope?

BTW, how sure are you that the lamp is good? Sorry if this was mentioned
already.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

In article , Sam Goldwasser wrote:
(G) writes:

In article , (G)
wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
. ..
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the
voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a
two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected,
could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small

winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on
the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still
does
ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket
since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you
gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

I ordered another ballast, slightly different. The second ballast didn't seem

to have enough oomph. I did read a open starting voltge almost 200 volts.
It just got loaded down with the tube even though its for a bigger tube ??

I had wonderd if a UV lamp has slightly different requirments, as I found
an old separate listing for Advance UV ballasts. Don't know.

Don't know for sure but a UV lamp is just a normal lamp without the
phosphor and probably in a quartz envelope?

BTW, how sure are you that the lamp is good? Sorry if this was mentioned
already.

I am not totally convinced they are good. We tried 3.

greg

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on
the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still
does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket
since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you
gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

greg


That won't work unless the ignition capacitor within the ballast is shorted,
which I've seen once, the yellows go to an isolated filament winding,
they're not part of the ballast secondary. Put the red wires on one end and
the blue wires on the other and the lamp will light. Better yet, use a
ballast designed to operate a single lamp, they're cheap.

In article dfbIi.16231$mk2.14086@trnddc07, "James Sweet" wrote:


Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on
the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still
does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket
since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you
gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

greg


That won't work unless the ignition capacitor within the ballast is shorted,
which I've seen once, the yellows go to an isolated filament winding,
they're not part of the ballast secondary. Put the red wires on one end and
the blue wires on the other and the lamp will light. Better yet, use a
ballast designed to operate a single lamp, they're cheap.

That might have worked.
The orginal ballast was bad. The replacement just did not do the job.
I fixed the problem when I installed an instant start ballast. The guy at
Grainger suggested a lower power single unit. I had to join the reds and the
yellows, as the 600 volt starting voltage apparently does not need filiments.

greg

(G) writes:

In article , Sam Goldwasser wrote:
(G) writes:

In article , (G)
wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article , (G)
wrote:
In article M6GHi.3333$Ap2.2805@trndny05, "James Sweet"
wrote:

"G" wrote in message
. ..
I have a system that worked. Had a lamp and a ballast. It quit
working. I replaced lamp and ballast, check everything except the
voltage
between the ends of the tube. The filiments light. My question, its a
two
lamp
ballast that has two unused wires. Having only one lamp connected,
could
this
cause a reduced starting voltage across the lamp. I am suspecting
some weak link and not a hard core problem.

greg

Are you sure the ballast is wired right? Most North American twin lamp
autotransformer ballasts wire the lamps in series, the output of the
secondary is on the red and blue wires, the yellow wires are only a small

winding to provide cathode heat to the middle cathodes.

Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on
the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive, supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still
does
ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket
since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you
gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

I ordered another ballast, slightly different. The second ballast didn't seem

to have enough oomph. I did read a open starting voltge almost 200 volts.
It just got loaded down with the tube even though its for a bigger tube ??

I had wonderd if a UV lamp has slightly different requirments, as I found
an old separate listing for Advance UV ballasts. Don't know.

Don't know for sure but a UV lamp is just a normal lamp without the
phosphor and probably in a quartz envelope?

BTW, how sure are you that the lamp is good? Sorry if this was mentioned
already.

I am not totally convinced they are good. We tried 3.

I assume you have tested for continuity of the filaments at both ends?

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

I ordered another ballast, slightly different. The second ballast didn't
seem
to have enough oomph. I did read a open starting voltge almost 200 volts.
It just got loaded down with the tube even though its for a bigger tube ??

I had wonderd if a UV lamp has slightly different requirments, as I found
an old separate listing for Advance UV ballasts. Don't know.



Did you even read what I posted? There's a capacitor between the yellow
wires and either the red or blue wires to help ignite the first lamp in the
series chain, you'll measure a voltage between the other colors and the
yellows because of this, but it'll load down with a lamp connected. It
sounds to me like the ballast is behaving precisely as it should, you're
just not connecting it right. It's not designed to operate a single lamp, it
connects both lamps in series, if one is not there, the other will not
light.

"G" wrote in message
...
In article dfbIi.16231$mk2.14086@trnddc07, "James Sweet"
wrote:


Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on
the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive,
supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still
does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket
since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you
gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

greg


That won't work unless the ignition capacitor within the ballast is
shorted,
which I've seen once, the yellows go to an isolated filament winding,
they're not part of the ballast secondary. Put the red wires on one end
and
the blue wires on the other and the lamp will light. Better yet, use a
ballast designed to operate a single lamp, they're cheap.

That might have worked.
The orginal ballast was bad. The replacement just did not do the job.
I fixed the problem when I installed an instant start ballast. The guy at
Grainger suggested a lower power single unit. I had to join the reds and
the
yellows, as the 600 volt starting voltage apparently does not need
filiments.


That will work, though if the lamp is not designed for it, it will fail
quickly due to cathode sputter. Instant start ballasts need lamps
specifically designed to be operated without supplemental cathode heat.

In article TZmIi.5718$oc2.5176@trnddc04, "James Sweet" wrote:


The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

I am looking at the orginal ballast and another single lamp with RR BBuWG

On the later I measure HV when the lamp in inserted, but there is
no HV open, and the lamp is a perfectly working model. I'm not sure I
understand the no HV concept. Its not present on the orginal non
working model 2 lamp ballast.

I ordered another ballast, slightly different. The second ballast didn't
seem
to have enough oomph. I did read a open starting voltge almost 200 volts.
It just got loaded down with the tube even though its for a bigger tube ??

I had wonderd if a UV lamp has slightly different requirments, as I found
an old separate listing for Advance UV ballasts. Don't know.



Did you even read what I posted? There's a capacitor between the yellow
wires and either the red or blue wires to help ignite the first lamp in the
series chain, you'll measure a voltage between the other colors and the
yellows because of this, but it'll load down with a lamp connected. It
sounds to me like the ballast is behaving precisely as it should, you're
just not connecting it right. It's not designed to operate a single lamp, it
connects both lamps in series, if one is not there, the other will not
light.

Did you even read what I posted?
That sounds like good info, but I was trying to go by the orginal
installation, which was exactly as I was trying to do,. The two
blue wires had wirenuts and went noplace. The orginal ballast
had no filiment voltages present. The new ballast lit the filiments
very nice, and now after the third ballast, everything is bluish.

greg

In article F%mIi.5719$oc2.5654@trnddc04, "James Sweet" wrote:

"G" wrote in message
...
In article dfbIi.16231$mk2.14086@trnddc07, "James Sweet"
wrote:


Yellows on one side, one lamp to reds and another if present to blues on
the
other sides. 120 vac. I checked voltages except the actual drive,
supposed
to be about 380 vac unloaded. I will measure that next. I had to defeat
contacts to get access. Its all in a big hood. It worked, now it still
does ot
even with new parts. I don't imagine there is a problem with the socket
since
the filiments light. Its also a UV lamp.

I wired up a strobe once. It would not work in the dark. As soon as you
gave
it enough light it would fire.

I am reading the lamp FAQ.

The measurements on the orginal ballast are off. I may have a bad new
ballast

greg


That won't work unless the ignition capacitor within the ballast is
shorted,
which I've seen once, the yellows go to an isolated filament winding,
they're not part of the ballast secondary. Put the red wires on one end
and
the blue wires on the other and the lamp will light. Better yet, use a
ballast designed to operate a single lamp, they're cheap.

That might have worked.
The orginal ballast was bad. The replacement just did not do the job.
I fixed the problem when I installed an instant start ballast. The guy at
Grainger suggested a lower power single unit. I had to join the reds and
the
yellows, as the 600 volt starting voltage apparently does not need
filiments.


That will work, though if the lamp is not designed for it, it will fail
quickly due to cathode sputter. Instant start ballasts need lamps
specifically designed to be operated without supplemental cathode heat.

I'll see if I can come up with a number.

greg