How can I quickly bypass or, if necessary, remove a ballast?

[H2Obuffalo]

Hello-

The very basic house I'm moving into has several existing fluorescent light fixtures on the ceiling. I got on a ladder and changed one of the fixtures to an incandescent fixture (regular round light bulb), but the bulb is glowing at only a fraction of its normal brightness. It is only turning on very dimly. I think this is because of the BALLAST still attached near the switch of each electrical line going to the light fixtures.

What is the quickest, easiest way to bypass, or if needed, remove the ballast? They are little boxes with (from what I can see given the way they are mounted) only two wires stuck into them. It will be difficult for me to remove the ballasts themselves from the wooden board they are mounted on, and I can't see clearly what's behind the wooded board- just a tangle of wires. What will happen if I take the two wires out the ballast (easy to do) and bind them to each other (easy to do):

A) The ballast will no longer be involved in the flow of electricity and the incandescent light will be allowed to shine at its normal brightness.

B) There will be a big bang, some sparks, followed by acute darkness in the house and an intense feeling of foolishness.

Thank you for any information on this!

-Paul

 

[MRCecil]

If I were you, I would call a qualified electrician given your first paragraph, and for the sake of safety for you and your family. I'm not trying to be flip or demeaning in any respect, but from your description of the issue the project appears beyond your current expertise.

 

[H2Obuffalo]

"I'm not trying to be flip or demeaning"

Well, wow, you're sure doing a good job of it anyway.

-P

 

[Reloadron]

The thing here is that something just isn't right. When you removed the old fluorescent fixture you didn't mention if it was for example 4' tubes or what type. Generally the ballast is part of most fixtures. If this was a small screw base tube then you may have to remove the rest of the fixture if there is more.

The big concern here is the dim bulb (new bulb) which is a good indicator something could be very wrong. I think most people here will just show concern for your well being. Not knowing your level of expertise makes it difficult to give advice and nobody here wants to suggest you do or try something that could make you have a real bad day.

Anyway, the trick would be finding the ballast if one wasn't removed with the old fixture.

Ron

 

[H2Obuffalo]

Hi Ron-

Thanks for your post. The fixture/bulb is around a meter long. Unfortunately I'm not at the house today, so I can't measure it and say exactly. But something around three feet, maybe four feet. And the tube itself is skinny, I'm guessing around 3/4 inch if you pinched it between your fingers. I live in Thailand, and these tubes are skinnier than the ones I used in the States. But beyond that, they look like very plain, inexpensive, everyday fluorescent fixtures (and tubes).

In the "home store" here- like a Home Depot in the States- I found the same little boxes that I think are ballasts at the house in question, and the electronics department people at the "home store" confirmed that they are ballasts, one for each fixture's electrical line. The guys there also confirmed that the ballast will interfere with the incandescent fixture and make the bulb glow dimly unless removed. But I was kindof busy with something else, so I forgot to ask them if I could just remove and join the two wires that go into the ballast (there are no outgoing wires) instead of trying to physically remove the ballast from the wooden board it's attached to.

Let's see- what else... the fluorescent fixture in this case has been completely removed. There is nothing of it remaining. But the ballast is a separate unit that was put down near the switch for the light, not near the light itself. Nothing is hidden behind walls- this house looks like an unfinished house does in the States. Putting the ballast further down the electrical line may be standard practice in Thailand. Anyway the hardware store guys acted as if this configuration was completely normal here. There isn't, or rather wasn't, anything sounding like a "screw base tube" in the originial fixture. It's just a regular fluorescent fixture, i.e. slide both sides' pins into the slots on each side and rotate the tube.

Concern for my well being is appreciated. Thank you. I have no expertise, although I have replaced a few identical broken incandescent fixtures at my old place. Only the ballast is new to me in this case.

But of course I know to turn off the master switch for all the power in the house, and make absolutey sure it IS off, before I do anything. I already err on the side of paranoia- I mean, in Thailand I turn off the whole house's power just to change a blessed light BULB.

Anyway, normally I would not mess with wires I'm unfamiliar with, and that's why I'm asking. But here is my- perhaps incorrect- logic for wondering about joining the two wires: If there were two wires going in and two wires going out of the ballast, then of course I would not cross those wires- that would be like crossing a black wire with a white wire. But there are only two wires. Does that mean that this is like a single, interrupted black (or white) wire, and the other one is running uninterrupted behind the wooden mounting board? Or are those two wires indeed one black wire and one white wire. Right now they both are the same color- white. The regular wiring here is always divided into a black strand and a white strand.

So this is why I am here: Does anyone know how a ballast works? When hooking up a ballast, do you cut only one (black or white) wire and insert both cut ends (of the single-color wire) into the ballast? (That's what I'm guessing and hoping.) Or when hooking up a ballast does one black wire end and one white wire end go into the ballast?

If it's just two parts of the same, interrupted wire, then it seems like I should be able to simply remove and rejoin them (easily done), conveniently removing the ballast from the whole equation. But if a ballast works with one black wire end inserted and one white end wire inserted, then I obviously can't do that.

Does anyone know how this ballast most likely works?

Thank you for reading.

-Paul

 

[audioguru]

Ballasts for old fluorescent tubes in Canada have two input wires and 4 output wires for one tube since the tube has 4 pins.
Each end of the tube has a filament that lights to start the tube glowing. The filaments are fed separate low voltages from windings on the ballast and the high voltage is made between each end of the tube.

It sounds like your ballast with only 2 wires is simply an inductor to limit the current. It probably connects in series with the tube.

 

[Reloadron]

Ah Thailand. We have a regular member here in Thailand and with luck Boncuk will happen along. He would likely be familiar with exactly what you describe and maybe could help. My guess is you have ballast that are not part of the flourescent fixture (isolated from it) and somewhere that ballast needs removed from the circuit.

Ron

 

[Boncuk]

Hi Paul,

Ron brought this threat to my attention.

CFLs are wired the old fashioned way in Thailand with a ballast having one input and one output wire. The ballast is wired in series with both filaments in the CFL via the starter.

Connecting a filament type lamp instead of a CFL it should be connected to (switched) L and N, ignoring ballast and starter completely.

Starters are built for a certain power and if left in the circuit it could burn up if the filament type lamp's power exceeds the rated power for the starter.

Instead of experimenting with the wires I suggest to call a local electrician to change the wiring. They generally know how they connected the original wiring (completely different from European standards and twisted wires instead of connectors, isolated with tape )

A "Chang Faii Faa" will cost you about 50Thai Baht per hour.

When the Chang has finished his work perform intense testing of his "magic work". My Chang managed to convert a CFL circuit into a randomly flashing filament type circuit.

(He forgot to jump (bridge) the starter.)

The image shows how CFLs are wired in Thailand.

Regards

Hans

 

[H2Obuffalo]

Thanks to all for the added posts. Hi again, Hans! :- ) I understand that you suggest I contact an electrician, and I certainly will because I need some other things done like installing the water heater and probably a new water pump, too.

That said, ha! Your diagram seems to confirm that the two wires I see going into this box are indeed just one interrupted wire. By the way, phonephotos are below.

So, I should be able to just:

1) TURN THE HOUSE POWER OFF.
2) DOUBLE-CHECK THAT IT'S OFF.
3) Unscrew and pull those two wires out and carefully join them securely
4) Turn the house power back on.
5) Problem solved.

Right?

-Paul

 

[Boncuk]

Hi Paul,

problem solved halfway.

You don't only have to jump the ballast by removing it from the circuit, but also the starter.

Just go by the schematic I posted earlier. Not jumping the starter you'll have that fancy randomly flashing light bulb as I experienced.

Connect the lamp as shown in the schematic diagram.

Regards

Hans

 

[Boncuk]

That's a starter.

You don't need it for a filament type lamp.

 

[H2Obuffalo]

Ok, thanks! Happily I don't think I have a starter around anymore. Maybe it was indeed attached to the fixture, now thrown away.

-Paul

 

[Boncuk]

If your fluorescent lamps start flicker free they don't have a mechanical starter as shown, but an electronic circuit instead.

It's normally built in one of the sockets for the lamp. The glass tubes of those lamps have a diameter of 1".

Boncuk

 

[H2Obuffalo]

Bright Light Shining Through The Night

Thanks, Folks! This bulb's for you.

-Paul

www.forestsounds.info