Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « on: July 07, 2022, 11:14:57 PM » Author: bulb_tester2009
A friend of mine used a bad electronic ballast when the ballast suddenly made a loud noise and rolled black smoke. The tube was also EOL because of the abnormal output of the ballast.
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I've been collecting light bulbs since I was 2 years old and I've been collecting them ever since.
 
One of the few Chinese users here
Note:
Bulb base in China:E12(CES) E14(SES) B22d(BC) E27(ES) E40(GES)

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #1 on: July 09, 2022, 07:54:45 AM » Author: funkybulb
There was a building that had F96 slimelines in use one of fixture would cycle on and off and I told them it need to be replace the ballast.  It was tripping on thermal .   So one day thermal protector  Got stuck in a magnetic tar filled ballast. The ballast overheated to point it started smokng.  And it got very thick.  And the ballast capacitor popped and PCB oil went every where.  It wss great smoke out inside the building.  If light left on any longer it would catch on fire and set celing on fire.
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No LED gadgets, spins too slowly.  Gotta  love preheat and MV. let the lights keep my meter spinning.

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #2 on: July 09, 2022, 09:36:50 PM » Author: dor123
Zim building at Tel-Aviv, went on fire, as a result of a fluorescent fixture with a stuck starter: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%9D_(%D7%AA%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%91%D7%99%D7%91)
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #3 on: July 09, 2022, 10:26:26 PM » Author: bulb_tester2009
Quote from: funkybulb on July 09, 2022, 07:54:45 AM There was a building that had F96 slimelines in use one of fixture would cycle on and off and I told them it need to be replace the ballast.  It was tripping on thermal .   So one day thermal protector  Got stuck in a magnetic tar filled ballast. The ballast overheated to point it started smokng.  And it got very thick.  And the ballast capacitor popped and PCB oil went every where.  It wss great smoke out inside the building.  If light left on any longer it would catch on fire and set celing on fire. Quote from: dor123 on July 09, 2022, 09:36:50 PM Zim building at Tel-Aviv, went on fire, as a result of a fluorescent fixture with a stuck starter: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA_%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%9D_(%D7%AA%D7%9C_%D7%90%D7%91%D7%99%D7%91) What are the types of ballasts?
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I've been collecting light bulbs since I was 2 years old and I've been collecting them ever since.
 
One of the few Chinese users here
Note:
Bulb base in China:E12(CES) E14(SES) B22d(BC) E27(ES) E40(GES)

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #4 on: July 10, 2022, 04:41:48 AM » Author: dor123
The ballast in the case of funkybulb is a two wires instant start tar filled magnetic autotransformer ballast, that its thermal protection got tripped because of overheating. In my case, it was a series choke that got overheated by a stuck starter, and because Zim building was built non-compliant to the electricity and bulding standards in Israel, it started a fire.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2022, 05:12:10 AM by dor123 »		Logged

I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #5 on: July 11, 2022, 09:37:04 PM » Author: bulb_tester2009
Quote from: dor123 on July 10, 2022, 04:41:48 AM The ballast in the case of funkybulb is a two wires instant start tar filled magnetic autotransformer ballast, that its thermal protection got tripped because of overheating. In my case, it was a series choke that got overheated by a stuck starter, and because Zim building was built non-compliant to the electricity and bulding standards in Israel, it started a fire. It sounds very sad. I didn't expect that just a stuck starter could cause a fire.
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I've been collecting light bulbs since I was 2 years old and I've been collecting them ever since.
 
One of the few Chinese users here
Note:
Bulb base in China:E12(CES) E14(SES) B22d(BC) E27(ES) E40(GES)

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #7 on: July 12, 2022, 01:47:21 AM » Author: dor123
Despite Eltam made ballasts with a thermal protection, most of the ballasts sold here without thermal protection.
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #8 on: July 14, 2022, 02:29:12 AM » Author: bulb_tester2009
My grandparents used to use fluorescent lamps with magnetic ballasts, but a few years ago, the lamp suddenly smoked, and then the tube went out, and it was found that the ballast was aging.
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I've been collecting light bulbs since I was 2 years old and I've been collecting them ever since.
 
One of the few Chinese users here
Note:
Bulb base in China:E12(CES) E14(SES) B22d(BC) E27(ES) E40(GES)

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #10 on: July 14, 2022, 10:49:51 PM » Author: wide-lite 1000
Several !! In my younger days , I mis-wired a 50w HPS ballast and turned the arc-tube into confetti . I recently had the capacitor in my Norelco SOX streetlight go up in a giant cloud of PCB laden smoke . I've also had one of the 3 capacitors in my 700w MV Westy OV-50 suffer an internal short and get so hot you couldn't touch it .
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #11 on: July 15, 2022, 07:01:46 AM » Author: 108CAM
I had an 80w MV ballast short out with a spectacular display of fireworks and electrical arcing sounds. It was so intense that it fried the power strip it was plugged into yet somehow the lamp survived the carnage and still works.
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Fluro starter pings combined with a 50hz ballast hum and blinking tubes is music to my ears.

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Total incidents since joining LG: 18
Lamps accidently broken or smashed: 15
Ballast explosions/burnouts: 3

	Re: Have you ever encountered a ballast explosion, smoke or other failures? « Reply #14 on: July 17, 2022, 11:42:55 AM » Author: xmaslightguy
I've had a few of those little 14/15/20w preheat chokes get smoked A 2xF40 RS went up in smoke in my bedroom (it had been thermal-cycling for months before that, but I thought nothing of it since I'd seen lights in school do the same) Had a few of the little ballast/choke things in those LOA F40 shoplights go up in smoke. A 2xF32 electronic RS ballast in a fishtank light was probably the most recent smoker.. (most electronic's I've found "just die" which is far better)
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ThunderStorms/Lightning/Tornados are meant to be hunted down & watched...not hidden from in the basement!