bulb_tester2009
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Resolutely crack down on inferior LED lighting!!
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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.
A friend of mine also encountered an explosion of a magnetic ballast, causing the main switch of the whole residential building to trip.The reason is that the magnetic ballast exploded and caught fire because the ballast exceeded the rated voltage for a long time and the insulation layer was scraped open to check whether it was a copper coil. |
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« Last Edit: July 17, 2022, 10:29:37 PM by bulb_tester2009 »
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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
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Bulb base in China:E12(CES) E14(SES) B22d(BC) E27(ES) E40(GES)
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bulb_tester2009
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Resolutely crack down on inferior LED lighting!!
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A friend of mine also encountered an explosion of a magnetic ballast, causing the main switch of the whole residential building to trip.The reason is that the magnetic ballast exploded and caught fire because the ballast exceeded the rated voltage for a long time and the insulation layer was scraped open to check whether it was a copper coil.
Including, I also have a friend of my age. A inferior ballast emitted white smoke, causing the end cap to melt and crack the surface core due to high temperature. |
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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)
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108CAM
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Diehard MV, HPS, SOX & Preheat Fluorescent Fanatic
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| I need to mention a street light fire that happened around 2003. A Sylvania Roadster about 2 KM's from my house had a faulty ignitor that caught fire. When I was going out with my mum to get KFC for dinner, my mum spotted a flame coming from the top of the light. At this point, the emergency services had already been called. Fast Forward to 2022 and a fellow lighting enthusiast not on LG told me that there was a recall on Sylvania Roadsters due to faulty ignitors and that the recall happened in the early 2000's.
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Fluro starter pings combined with a 50hz ballast hum and blinking tubes is music to my ears.
Rest in Peace Electronic Lamp Manufacturers of Australia
1925-2002
Bring back the AJF Zodiacs!
Total incidents since joining LG: 18
Lamps accidently broken or smashed: 15
Ballast explosions/burnouts: 3
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AngryHorse
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Rich, Coaster junkie!
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| Mostly fluorescent choke’s I get called out to at work when they melt and trip all the lights out in our paint shop!
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Current: UK 230V, 50Hz
Power provider: e.on energy
Street lighting in our town: Philips UniStreet LED (gen 1)
Longest serving LED in service at home, (hour count): Energetic mini clear globe: 57,746 hrs @ 15/12/24
Welcome to OBLIVION
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Molly
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The wild Lampent hates LEDs!
 
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If you want to use any of my photos, please ask me for permission, and make sure to add credit. Thank you! 
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xelareverse
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joseph_125
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| I once blew up the discharge resistor on a capacitor I was using with a 1000w MH ballast. Made a rather loud arc sound. The capacitor was fine though. It turns out the resistor wasn't rated to take the ~480v coming from the ballast.
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108CAM
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Diehard MV, HPS, SOX & Preheat Fluorescent Fanatic
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| The only other ballast failure I've encountered was with a 50w MV ballast that worked normally for about 3 seconds before making a pop sound and going open circuit.
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Fluro starter pings combined with a 50hz ballast hum and blinking tubes is music to my ears.
Rest in Peace Electronic Lamp Manufacturers of Australia
1925-2002
Bring back the AJF Zodiacs!
Total incidents since joining LG: 18
Lamps accidently broken or smashed: 15
Ballast explosions/burnouts: 3
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Michael
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| No explosion from a ballast but from worn out capacitor which violently broke the lanterns frame and tripped the main fuse in the street lighting switch board.
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icefoglights
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ITT Low Pressure Sodium NEMA
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Had a capacitor in a mercury vapor fixture blow. Not a fan of oil filled caps after that  |
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01010010 01101111 01100010 01100101 01110010 01110100
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Michael
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| I’m glad that those that fail in that way are filled with vegetable oils without PCBs. - Just one time happened that a PCB filled cap exploded in a meat slicer. What a mess.
But back to the topic, the weakest ballasts which can fail and set the entire fixture on fire - if made of GRP - were the leak transformers for SOX lamps, those which did not have a thermal cutout installed.
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ace100w120v
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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)
Those sketchy LOA capacitive sidac things sure did tend to release the magic smoke. Forgot about them and the normal-power-factor rapid start ballasts that would thermally cycle with 34 watt 'energy saver' lamps. |
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LightsAreBright27
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Cheap LED Assassin
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| I once got two electronic ballasts from outside. One exploded due to a short and on one I experimented connecting one end of one tube and one end of another tube. Both tubes glowed until a pop happened.
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Holder of the rare and sacred  F10T12/BL lamps here!
Also known as LAB27 for short.
One of the only Indian members here!
245v 50Hz
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Richmond2000
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120V 60HZ
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| grade 12 in highschool a cat decided to climb the power pole and got across the top HV line and the secondary of one of the phases causing a massive spike in voltage on one of the phases before the transformer exploded and 1/3 of the lights ballasts blew up some with a load bang
and the schools boiler pump was cooked so we had NO heat and 1/3 of the lights out for a few weeks as they got everything sorted including replacing loads of ballasts and tubes 1/3 of a schools worth with an enrollment of about 900 students
mid 2000's the garage I worked in was lite with F40 t12 floros and mostly GE value line chokes from the 80's and they liked to fail leaking out the tar in them and letting the magic smoke out sometimes - we had a bucket truck I used to change them
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wide-lite 1000
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I've never had a ballast blow but I've seen a couple do it . I have had a capacitor release the magic smoke inside my Norelco 180w SOX streetlight . Also , back in my teen years , I wired a 50w HPS ballast improperly causing the lamp to grenade into schrapnel all over my bed room !!  I wasn't allowed to mess with lights in my room after that one ! |
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Collector,Hoarder,Pack-rat! Clear mercury Rules!!
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