Another (hopefully quick) fluorescent tube question - specifically about the new fixture I bought.

[Jeff7]

I bought some electronic-ballast fixtures to replace the ancient magnetic garbage in the garage. The old fixtures have trouble starting the lights if the temp drops much below 40F. The new one says it can start tubes at least as low as 0F, and maybe lower.

Info: Lithonia 256442. Other numbers: C2-32-120-GESB
Ballast: Accupro T8, AP-RC-232IP-120-1


Google's got nuthin' about the ballast. My (possibly stupid) question: can it run 40W T12 tubes? I've still got some of them laying around the house, and I'd like to use them before transitioning completely to T8 tubes.
There is a label on it that lists the various T8 tubes it will run; maybe they figure that no one would want to run the older style anymore.

(Paging Rubycon....paging Rubycon)

 

[Mark R]

In general electronic ballasts will only run the exact tubes that they are meant for. They are somewhat less forgiving than standard magnetic ballasts, where many will accept either 32 W T8 tubes or 40 W T12 tubes. This is especially likely with 'warm start' ballasts that deliberately use a controlled warm-up and soft ignition.

The wrong tubes may not start with the precisely regulated starting voltage before the ballast times out and aborts starting. Conventional magnetic starters conversely aren't regulated and can produce very high voltages which means that they will easily start slightly mismatched tubes, but the unregulated voltage is very hard on lamp life.

 

[Jeff7]

Darn. Oh well.


Amusingly enough, it seems that the cheap no-name $8.97 things that Home Depot sells will take either kind of tube, while the $27 Lithonia strips can only handle T8's.

And I came across electronic ballasts on eBay - I can buy 5 of them for less than the price of a whole new fixture. I wonder if it'd be possible to retrofit some of the other magnetic ballasted fixtures in the basement with these electronic ones.