Ballasts for Fluorescent and HID Lighting
Without a ballast, fluorescent and HID lighting systems would not function. They provide and control the flow of energy through the system in order to provide a strong, steady light. Ballasts typically come pre installed in light fixtures and last about twice as long as the bulbs do, on average. When you've got a burned out bulb, replace it. If the new bulb doesn't work, chances are you need to replace the ballast.
Here at eLightBulbs, we've got a lot of experience working with replacement ballasts. We offer the complete line of ballasts manufactured by Sylvania and Universal / Magnatek. We also can get virtually any ballast made by Advance or Robertson, thus covering the entire ballast market. The best way to find your ballast is to search our site for the description found on your existing ballast. If that doesn't work, try looking up the ballast based on the type of bulb it controls. Our service representative will help you find any ballast as well, so don't hesitate to use that resource!
For fluorescent bulbs, your replacement fluorescent ballasts will be found in our product catalog by first selecting the type of light bulb using the ballast. We've got complete selections for your Circline bulbs, for your T5 Pentron bulbs, as well as the more common T8 Octron or T12 Slimline light bulbs. Make sure you select a ballast that matches the number of bulbs your previous model was designed for. You would not want to try to use a 4 bulb ballast in a two bulb system, as this would most likely cause premature burnout of both bulb and ballast alike. Also, make sure the model you select matches the voltage of your previous model. In fact, this is being mad easier for you since today's ballast manufacturers are making universal voltage ballasts that cover all standard voltages in the US and Canada in one convenient ballast.
Compact Fluorescent bulbs also use ballasts. The screw-in base CFL bulbs have ballasts built into them, and that ballast cannot be replaced. The two-pin and four-pin models have a ballast in the fixture, which can be replaced. We have several types of ballast for this purpose. Again, as in standard fluorescent models, make sure your voltage and number of bulbs matches the original ballasts, or you will experience a short ballast and bulb life.
Metal Halide ballasts come in one lamp, two lamp, and kit models. When you select the one-lamp or two-lamp ballast, you are getting the ballast only. The Metal Halide ballast kit is a popular option, since all parts are included, such as capacitors, transistors, the light bulb, and the ballast itself. If you need High Pressure Sodium ballasts or Mercury Vapor ballasts, the same options will be given to you.
There are other miscellaneous ballasts available, the foremost of these is Icetron ballasts. The others in this category are for specific applications, such as refrigerator ballast, neon ballasts, certain dimmable ballasts, and others.
