Sodium light ballasts, reliabilirt and warranty issues.

[ProDave]

Back in January this year, I had to fix a couple of 70W Sodium light fittings that had burnt out ballast chokes.

After fixing the 2 that had failed, the customer asked me to change the ballasts in the other 4 lights to make them more reliable.

They are Thorn light fittings, but the replacement ballast units came from the Electric Centre under their own brand Acell

Today I'm called back as the outside lights have tripped, and one of the new ballasts has burnt out.

Electric Centre are sending me a replacement FOC

Should I be worried about the reliability of the rest of the light fittings with the new ballasts?

 

[Evans Electric]

In a word , or two words, probably yes.

I suspect that companies keep re-sourcing where their control gear comes from and they do not seem to last as long as the old, heavier stuff.

I had a similar problem with HF ballasts on twin Fluorescents. We fitted some long lighting tracks over printing presses with two makes of fitting , Fitzgerald and Crompton but both fit the same Tridonic gear . Lost track of how many I changed in a four year period.

Elsewhere in the same place , older switch start fittings continued to work without any problem. When we did a relocate another printer we went back to switchstart.

Trouble with your problem is although the replacement is FOC it is costing you to go to change it.

 

[ProDave]

Trouble with your problem is although the replacement is FOC it is costing you to go to change it.

Yes tell me about it.I have some other work to do for the same customer, easily a days work, so I might (cough) just slip an extra hours labour onto their other job so as not to be seen to charge for a "warranty" job.

The other problem is once more than 12 months old, I doubt I'll get a FOC replacment if any fail, particularly as the Electric Centre has just been bought by Edmundson so I can't see it remaining as it is for much longer.

And yes I still prefer switch start flouries, I've only ever known one ballast failure with those.

 

[Andy™]

And yes I still prefer switch start flouries, I've only ever known one ballast failure with those.

im always replacing failed ballast on them. so much so, that i keep them in stock. but still easier to repair than HF ballast.

as for son/MH ballast, never had any problems with Venture