Need help replacing ballast for a UV Lamp

Thread Starter

eugeneleyran

Joined Apr 15, 2013
4
Hi Guys,

I am hoping to find some answers in this forum. I recently bought a 40w submersible UV lamp (Aquazonic) for my fish pond. After about 20 days, the unit stopped working. I inspected the bulb and found no trace of filament burnout. The ballast (power pack) that it came with smelled burnt and I suspect that this is what was defective. The place I bought it from does not give out any warranty and to make things worse, they do not sell spare parts.

I would like to make use of the bulb until it burns out and I thought of using electronic ballasts that are locally available which are used for the common fluorescent 40W bulbs with 4 prongs (2 on each end).

My problem is this; upon inspecting the defective ballast and the UV bulb, there are only 2 pins where the defective ballast connects to the bulb. The locally available e-ballast has 4 leads that would go to each of the 4 pins of the common fluorescent bulb. Can I use this type of ballast for the 2 pin UV lamp that I have? If so, which of the 4 leads from the ballast should go to the 2 pins that are on the UV Bulb?

I would greatly appreciate any input regarding this matter. Thank you.
 

Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
The common ballast with four wires is usually used to power a dual lamp florescent fixture. Two wire ballast are available though.

I would hesitate to substitute one of those even if of the same power rating since a UV bulb may need a different operating voltage and start up(not sure about this part)
 

Thread Starter

eugeneleyran

Joined Apr 15, 2013
4
Hi kermit2,

thank you very much for your reply. unfortunately, i could not find a 2 wire ballast for a 40W bulb. The e-ballast available here for a 40W bulb serves only a single 40W bulb and the schematics printed on the ballast itself shows that the 4 leads ought to connect to each of the four prongs of a single bulb. on one end of the ballast goes in the 2 live wires (220V). on the opposite end are 4 terminals which ought to connect to a single 40w fluorescent bulb (2 on each end). that being said, i was hoping someone might know how to "retrofit this common ballast" with a 2 pin UV lamp with the same wattage.

anyhow, i am so tempted to buy the ballast and test to see if it would be able to light up my uv lamp; of course risking to blow up the bulb or the ballast in the process.

again thanks for your input. more power!
 
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