# Using the wrong ballast



## chrisnif (Aug 20, 2010)

the word is "should" I can say this because I've got a F30T8 running on a 65w PC ballast and it fires up (and is FREAKING INSANELY BRIGHT).


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

I've done something sort of similar before. I used a 4 tube ballast and wired all 4 wires into two 24 inch tubes that were ran in series so the two 24 tubes were essentially behaving as one 48 tube which is what that ballast was ment for. Worked for many years but the tubes loose intensity much faster and as i recall from the thread that i found this out from, you increase the power by 4 but dont incease the light output by the same factor. It's less efficient.

Back to my original question, i guess the only way to find out is to try it. F32 is 32 watts vs the 30 watts of an F30. I think thats close enough and the tube length probably doesn't matter.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

These 4 bulb electronic ballasts are very versatile. I use them to run T5 bulbs! With the 4 leads, you have a lot of flexibility to OD (iow to adjust the brightness level).

I don't exactly know how the ballast senses how much current needs to be pushed through a bulb. Perhaps different bulb (lengths) have different resistance. "Normal" 3ft T8 bulbs run ~25W, so it is possible that your 3ft tubes will be underdriven a bit. However, if that is the case, you can make up for it by connecting two leads to overdrive them. This would not double the wattage, but get you prolly into the 35W range.

Again, I am just speculating, and the best way would be to try it out and measure the wattage used.


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## RoyalFizbin (Mar 7, 2006)

Well I went and got a ballast, it was between a 2 lamp or a 4 lamp one. I got the 4 lamp one. Wired it up for two tubes at normal output, worked fine. Next I double over drived it and it fired right up once again. Left it like that. 
It looks like tube length isn't that important.


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## utcraze (May 31, 2014)

RoyalFizbin, 

Did you get the ballast for the F32T8? I noticed the same thing today and really wanted to update my lamp to the F30T8 bulb, but ended up getting the older F30T12. If you did get the F32T8 ballast, did it work for you?
Thanks


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