The following response was posted by Tou Xiong in about the year 2000. It is the only informative post in the entire thread, yet was posted as a response to a comment, so was not as easily accessible for all to readily see. This is a good way to test a ballast when it is not in the cover and you can't tell if it's a good one or a bad one. This is the reason I searched this up. I work with some people who likes to keep junk we have a bunch of ballast good and bad, some wrapped some unwrapped so I have to go through and test them to find the bad ones to throw out. As for a ballast that is hooked up its easy to tell if it's working or not. Just use a non contact power tester. It beeps when there is power in the wire. If you test and it beeps on the red and black supply wire then it should also beep on the yellow, blue, and red fixure wire as well. If non of them beeps (while the red and black supply does), you have a bad ballast.
Ready!!!..... Aim!!!......Fire!!!!!.... BOOM!!!. You have done my day in times of need. You have come through in dealing with this stupid antiquated form of lighting which sometimes can exasperate anyone. Thanks.
Very neat to know the difference between the analog & digital readings. Thank you for that understanding! Iam in the trade and I haven’t seen any analog Technology except for mega readings. 👍👍
I just used an auto-ranging meter and all wires test in the meg-ohm range EXCEPT the blue ones. Magnetic ballast, BTW. The blue ones were below 20 ohms. Same for both ballasts within the same fixture. None of the lights worked, so that's a clue, too! I tore them out and re-wired for direct-wire LED bulbs. Works now!
I mistakenly ordered LED bulbs for curbside pickup. I think rather than trying to replace my ballast (which I now know is bad) I'm just going to do the same and convert it to accept LEDs rather than drive across town to home depot twice in the same day. And next time I'll just go in the store because evidently my reading comprehension skills need improvement as well 😅
@@jacobwilson3316Resistance test will tell you if something is bad but it won’t tell you if it’s good because you are not testing it under an electrical “load”.
In the future, I believe written English will abandon all punctuation. Jesus guys! I’m trying to glean some information from the comments and the questions are one giant run on sentence! It’s like Dickens and Cummings convention!
You was right the first time when you said the needle shouldn't move on an analog meter. It will not swing for open lead as it is no difference than just holding the leads in open air not touching anything so by connecting them to something else that is open will not make the needle move.
Great and informative video. just one comment; should mention to test the white wire with all other wires except the black wire. People who have no electrical experience will read resistance if they measure between white and black wires and determine that the ballast is defective
You are saying meter should read OL or no resiatance, then ballast is good. Every other place I have read says just the opposite, It should measure continuiity if ballast is good. If ballast is bad, on my meter it still stays at 1. Please explain. All wires show no resistance. No meter movement. Therefore, Ballast is bad??
My ballast has 2 red wires and 2 blue wires and a black and a white that go to the AC source. The schematic on the ballast shows that the red wires go to one end of the fluorescent fixture, and that the blue wires go to the opposite end of the fixture. The white wire is the neutral wire that goes to a 127v source. Is this correct?
My multi-meter is a ideal 61-310, and the screen reads this when i follow the above instructions .. ( 1 . ) a number one a few spaces then a dot. Is that the same as "OL" in this video?
I just tested a ballast at work using this method. unfortunately, the power supply within the ballast was faulty giving me the same OL reading from the white to all the secondaries.
This is a good way to test a ballast when it is not in the cover and you can't tell if it's a good one or a bad one. This is the reason I searched this up. I work with some people who likes to keep junk we have a bunch of ballast good and bad, some wrapped some unwrapped so I have to go through and test them to find the bad ones to throw out. As for a ballast that is hooked up its easy to tell if it's working or not. Just use a non contact power tester. It beeps when there is power in the wire. If you test and it beeps on the red and black supply wire then it should also beep on the yellow, blue, and red fixure wire as well. If non of them beeps (while the red and black supply does), you have a bad ballast.
I bought a brand new Ballast from Homedepot and tested it using this method. The blue wire showed resistance. I used it anyway. It came out good. Is this method reliable?
Fairly ineffective method to test a ballast. My broken ballast tested good according to your method. An open winding in a transformer will still give you an open reading. A failed test is a good indicator that the ballast is bad but a passing test does not definitively mean the ballast is good, it may still be bad.
Hi thanks for the video I have a fluorescent fixture that seems to work fine I was thinking of pulling the ballasts and getting rid of the rest of the fixture. but when I use the method of testing you're talking about one side of the fixture gives me open line and the other side starts to show values on the meter. Trying to decide if I'm doing something wrong or if this fixture is not putting out what it should if it were in perfect condition. Yellow wires on one side dhowing OL and blue and red wires on the other side showing values ranging from 11-39
There has to be more to it than this. If you stuck 6 wires into a brick, you would get the same results as produced in this test. That does not mean a brick would work as a ballast. By following this authors directions, I wasted a day rebuilding a fluorescent fixture, which was doubly hard to do as the fixture was recessed into the ceiling.
This is NOT an accurate test! I did this on my ballast and it showed it was good, so thanks to you I wasted a bunch of time tracking wires and making sure there wasn't any other issues. So after all that I bought a new ballast anyway since it was only $12 and VIOLA, it works great now!
Just replaced my ballast that checked good using this method. If all lights go out at the same time; likely the ballast. Power to ballast but not out; bad ballast. I bought lights and ballast; now I have spare bulbs.
So do I plug in the ballast or test it without any no power? Just to be clear I'm dumb with it comes to this but I learn and keep the knowledge with me in the future but this is new to me. I'm still trying to learn the Multimeter. But just a question that you didnt explain plus your testing the ballast that's removed I want to test a little that complete before it starts cutting wires to remove the ballast . But I get it I just didn't know to power it or no power
I'm not sure which white wire your supposed to test. One white wire goes from the power source into the ballast and another white wire goes to the bulb... I assume it's from the power source but just want to be sure cause your wires are so strewn about in the video it's hard to tell and everywhere I've googled just says white wire without specifying which one.
Very good video. This is the first time that I see a video like that. Mostly the electrician usually does not test ballast they replace the used ballast for a new one and that is it. I believe you use the withe wire (common) because it transformer share it's coil with the secondary transformer. Is it correct? .
Alex I have a 4 bulb fixture that is LEDs tubes and the bulbs are 4 feet long and it has a ballast. My question is do you test the ballast the same way you did in this video? My LED bulbs were flickering like a regular fluorescent tube bulb does and they finally died on me it sounds like it's the ballast. Thanks for your time peace brother
No offence to the guy who made this video, but this is not accurate. My ballast tested completely normal according to this test, and it was bad. I practically rebuilt the light fixture and replaced the switch because supposedly my ballast was good. WRONG! Nothing worked until I put in a new ballast.
On your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no resistance. Tuotching thOn your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no resistance. Tuotching thOn your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no resistance. Tuotching thOn your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no resistance. You can verify this by touching the two probes together and you will get a full swing.
This would be one type of failure, a shorted ballast. But not the only type of failure possible. All my wires read infinite resistance so it should be good right? Nope, I've got 120VAC in, and no voltage out to the bulbs.
T12 has only , one end a black and a white. other end blue and a red. same test. Black from tester to white and red from tester to red and then blue. each should show OL. if one or both show resistance then ballast is trash
This video is incomplete.. he did not say what range you should be looking for if you only have a 2k or 1k selection on meter or what to do if your meter is auto ranging? the very FACT you are setting meter on 4K seems to make me figure that possibly a 2k reading would actually be normal in some instances and not indicative of a bad ballast. I am an automechanic by trade and you will not see ME making videos on how to fine tune the rocket motors on the space shuttle. if you dont have all the facts dont make a fucking video
This method only tests for ground faults. And may give a false positive for a broken balast. Also the information on the analog meter is backwards; if the meter moves all the way, it means no resistance. I am not sure the person doing the video understands all they are doing
The following response was posted by Tou Xiong in about the year 2000. It is the only informative post in the entire thread, yet was posted as a response to a comment, so was not as easily accessible for all to readily see.
This is a good way to test a ballast when it is not in the cover and you can't tell if it's a good one or a bad one. This is the reason I searched this up. I work with some people who likes to keep junk we have a bunch of ballast good and bad, some wrapped some unwrapped so I have to go through and test them to find the bad ones to throw out. As for a ballast that is hooked up its easy to tell if it's working or not. Just use a non contact power tester. It beeps when there is power in the wire. If you test and it beeps on the red and black supply wire then it should also beep on the yellow, blue, and red fixure wire as well. If non of them beeps (while the red and black supply does), you have a bad ballast.
Ready!!!..... Aim!!!......Fire!!!!!.... BOOM!!!. You have done my day in times of need. You have come through in dealing with this stupid antiquated form of lighting which sometimes can exasperate anyone. Thanks.
Your welcome!
thank you so much for the short and to the point demonstration. It should be a requirement here instead of all the long winded useless videos.
First time my dad actually needed help to fix something, so I looked it up. Thanks.
Very neat to know the difference between the analog & digital readings. Thank you for that understanding! Iam in the trade and I haven’t seen any analog Technology except for mega readings. 👍👍
This is a fantastic video. Well done. Short and to the point. Thanks for posting.
I just used an auto-ranging meter and all wires test in the meg-ohm range EXCEPT the blue ones. Magnetic ballast, BTW. The blue ones were below 20 ohms. Same for both ballasts within the same fixture. None of the lights worked, so that's a clue, too! I tore them out and re-wired for direct-wire LED bulbs. Works now!
I mistakenly ordered LED bulbs for curbside pickup. I think rather than trying to replace my ballast (which I now know is bad) I'm just going to do the same and convert it to accept LEDs rather than drive across town to home depot twice in the same day.
And next time I'll just go in the store because evidently my reading comprehension skills need improvement as well 😅
Nice and simple and straight to the point! Thank you Alex!
Great job. To the point and was helpful; thanks for making and sharing this with us!
thanks for taking the time and effort to make this video. From UK
Are you saying you should test for resistance from the white wire to every other wire and there should be an open circuit?
This is a good way to test a ballast, but it is possible for a bad ballast to test good using this method. That was proven to me today.
That’s what I’m dealing with, T8 ballast, reads good, but yet no worky, put new one in lights worky!
@@jacobwilson3316Resistance test will tell you if something is bad but it won’t tell you if it’s good because you are not testing it under an electrical “load”.
Here in 2021. This was a very helpful video
Great video on testing florescent light ballast
In the future, I believe written English will abandon all punctuation.
Jesus guys! I’m trying to glean some information from the comments and the questions are one giant run on sentence! It’s like Dickens and Cummings convention!
Imagine if you will a Hemmingway version. "The lead. The black lead..."
@@bweaver9036-Touché
You was right the first time when you said the needle shouldn't move on an analog meter. It will not swing for open lead as it is no difference than just holding the leads in open air not touching anything so by connecting them to something else that is open will not make the needle move.
Great and informative video. just one comment; should mention to test the white wire with all other wires except the black wire. People who have no electrical experience will read resistance if they measure between white and black wires and determine that the ballast is defective
Thank you, couldn't find any other video on this either!!!
You are saying meter should read OL or no resiatance, then ballast is good. Every other place I have read says just the opposite, It should measure continuiity if ballast is good. If ballast is bad, on my meter it still stays at 1. Please explain. All wires show no resistance. No meter movement. Therefore, Ballast is bad??
Short and sweet thanks
It did help. Thanks Alex!!!
Correct me if wrong,OL means Open line or loop.Could you not use continuity test?
My ballast has 2 red wires and 2 blue wires and a black and a white that go to the AC source. The schematic on the ballast shows that the red wires go to one end of the fluorescent fixture, and that the blue wires go to the opposite end of the fixture. The white wire is the neutral wire that goes to a 127v source. Is this correct?
Thanks. Plain and simple. Loved it!!
Very helpful information -- thank you for posting!
Good video boss
So is there anything in between, or is it just GOOD or BAD?
Wow! how many wires does a ballest have comming out of it.
My multi-meter is a ideal 61-310, and the screen reads this when i follow the above instructions .. ( 1 . ) a number one a few spaces then a dot. Is that the same as "OL" in this video?
I just tested a ballast at work using this method. unfortunately, the power supply within the ballast was faulty giving me the same OL reading from the white to all the secondaries.
You meant this method is precise?
No he is saying this method will not test for all possible faulty conditions a ballast can have, as it didn't work to find his problem.
This is a good way to test a ballast when it is not in the cover and you can't tell if it's a good one or a bad one. This is the reason I searched this up. I work with some people who likes to keep junk we have a bunch of ballast good and bad, some wrapped some unwrapped so I have to go through and test them to find the bad ones to throw out. As for a ballast that is hooked up its easy to tell if it's working or not. Just use a non contact power tester. It beeps when there is power in the wire. If you test and it beeps on the red and black supply wire then it should also beep on the yellow, blue, and red fixure wire as well. If non of them beeps (while the red and black supply does), you have a bad ballast.
I bought a brand new Ballast from Homedepot and tested it using this method. The blue wire showed resistance. I used it anyway. It came out good. Is this method reliable?
Fairly ineffective method to test a ballast. My broken ballast tested good according to your method. An open winding in a transformer will still give you an open reading. A failed test is a good indicator that the ballast is bad but a passing test does not definitively mean the ballast is good, it may still be bad.
Hi thanks for the video I have a fluorescent fixture that seems to work fine I was thinking of pulling the ballasts and getting rid of the rest of the fixture. but when I use the method of testing you're talking about one side of the fixture gives me open line and the other side starts to show values on the meter. Trying to decide if I'm doing something wrong or if this fixture is not putting out what it should if it were in perfect condition. Yellow wires on one side dhowing OL and blue and red wires on the other side showing values ranging from 11-39
Van you show how to test a magnetic ballest using a multimeter.
Thanks
There has to be more to it than this. If you stuck 6 wires into a brick, you would get the same results as produced in this test. That does not mean a brick would work as a ballast. By following this authors directions, I wasted a day rebuilding a fluorescent fixture, which was doubly hard to do as the fixture was recessed into the ceiling.
This helped me today thanks!!
This is NOT an accurate test! I did this on my ballast and it showed it was good, so thanks to you I wasted a bunch of time tracking wires and making sure there wasn't any other issues. So after all that I bought a new ballast anyway since it was only $12 and VIOLA, it works great now!
does this work on the high powered as well? the big eight foot tubes. just curious cause they take the line in on the bulb
Just replaced my ballast that checked good using this method. If all lights go out at the same time; likely the ballast. Power to ballast but not out; bad ballast. I bought lights and ballast; now I have spare bulbs.
very concise thanks for the help
So do I plug in the ballast or test it without any no power? Just to be clear I'm dumb with it comes to this but I learn and keep the knowledge with me in the future but this is new to me. I'm still trying to learn the Multimeter. But just a question that you didnt explain plus your testing the ballast that's removed I want to test a little that complete before it starts cutting wires to remove the ballast . But I get it I just didn't know to power it or no power
Interesting my ballast is bad but it past the Ohms test. I have heard others say the same thing. Mine is an electronic ballast.
Do I have to unhook the ballast wires from the fixture to get an accurate test?
if i read resistence means working..correct? if reads OL that means no connection.. Other wise not working?
Resistance means bad
Thanks for the Video.
I have a Question can I test the Ballest while it is still hooked up to the Fixture while I have the power off?
?
Have to atleast disconnect your common. Should be connected to the white wire out if the ballast
I'm not sure which white wire your supposed to test. One white wire goes from the power source into the ballast and another white wire goes to the bulb... I assume it's from the power source but just want to be sure cause your wires are so strewn about in the video it's hard to tell and everywhere I've googled just says white wire without specifying which one.
Very good video. This is the first time that I see a video like that. Mostly the electrician usually does not test ballast they replace the used ballast for a new one and that is it.
I believe you use the withe wire (common) because it transformer share it's coil with the secondary transformer. Is it correct? .
Does this work for electronic LED drivers too?
Alex I have a 4 bulb fixture that is LEDs tubes and the bulbs are 4 feet long and it has a ballast. My question is do you test the ballast the same way you did in this video? My LED bulbs were flickering like a regular fluorescent tube bulb does and they finally died on me it sounds like it's the ballast. Thanks for your time peace brother
No offence to the guy who made this video, but this is not accurate. My ballast tested completely normal according to this test, and it was bad. I practically rebuilt the light fixture and replaced the switch because supposedly my ballast was good. WRONG! Nothing worked until I put in a new ballast.
That's annoying😂
All we have to do is make sure neutral has no continuity with any other wire?
On your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no resistance.
Tuotching thOn your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no
resistance. Tuotching thOn your analog meter, a full swing of the needle
indicates no resistance. Tuotching thOn your analog meter, a full swing of the needle indicates no resistance. You can verify this by touching the two probes together and you will get a full swing.
Sorry.. How the 2nd ballast is good?
I guess you said low resistence reading means ballast is bad.. 2nd ballast all readings were low, right?!!
Nope my ballast had no open lines and was STILL bad - just because there is no continuity in the line does NOT mean that the ballast is good !!
this is not 100% test. I have 1 that test good but does not work.
not a sufficient test. there are more possible faults. This test does not confirm a bad ballast.
So what does. Anyone can say not sufficient.
Mine reads open line, but still doesn't seem to work.
This would be one type of failure, a shorted ballast. But not the only type of failure possible. All my wires read infinite resistance so it should be good right? Nope, I've got 120VAC in, and no voltage out to the bulbs.
So it can confirm a bad ballast, but not necessarily confirm a good one.
Thank you!
Can you test with this method while the ballast is still attracted to the fixture?
Its been two years with no answer .... hope you figured it out. lol
ThNks!!
T12 has only , one end a black and a white. other end blue and a red. same test. Black from tester to white and red from tester to red and then blue. each should show OL. if one or both show resistance then ballast is trash
Thanks!
Very helpful, thank you
You're assuming everyone has that K-Mart special multi-meter, nowadays you can purchase one around forty bucks that has one ohm setting.😆😅🤣😂
Just replaced a ballast that would of passed this test.
Thanks for the video!!
这镇流器你只能测黑白线之间的电阻，黑红与白红之间的电阻测不出来，因为红色二次侧输出有电容器…红红/蓝蓝/黄黄线的灯丝加热线圈的电阻应该是0.4Ω
Yes, exactly, this test is way more accurate than his. Good job.
Why white lead?
does not work. tried it twice on ballast while watching this. Guess is it might not work on T8
I'm not sure this test works for an electronic ballast.
you misspelled ballast
incorrect info on meter readings here
All my wires are white...
What you talking about the Analog should jump. buddy I don't think your right. make a video using an analog.
This video is incomplete.. he did not say what range you should be looking for if you only have a 2k or 1k selection on meter or what to do if your meter is auto ranging? the very FACT you are setting meter on 4K seems to make me figure that possibly a 2k reading would actually be normal in some instances and not indicative of a bad ballast. I am an automechanic by trade and you will not see ME making videos on how to fine tune the rocket motors on the space shuttle. if you dont have all the facts dont make a fucking video
WRONG INFO ABOUT ANALOG
@@kevin123456789994 it is wrong jackass.
This method only tests for ground faults. And may give a false positive for a broken balast.
Also the information on the analog meter is backwards; if the meter moves all the way, it means no resistance. I am not sure the person doing the video understands all they are doing