● Installation
● Troubleshooting
● Warranty
Lamps and Dimming – Test Your Knowledge
True or False: Dimming will reduce the life of a lamp.
False
Dimming has no effect on the life of a lamp. Properly designed dimming ballasts will provide sufficient
filament heating and will maintain the full rated life of the lamp.
True or False: Dimming will extend the life of a lamp.
False
Dimming has no effect on the life of a lamp. Properly designed dimming ballasts will provide sufficient
filament heating and will maintain the full rated life of the lamp.
Fixture Construction and Best Practices
Lamp spacing from the ground plane: Minimum lamp spacing to the fixture shall
be > 6mm for the duration of the fixture life. (quite often, belly pans sag over
time leading to lamps touching grounded metal.)
Issues resulting from fixtures sagging will always be a fixture issue. The lamps and ballasts
cannot prevent or cause the fixture belly pan to sag over time.
Symptoms to look for:
Belly pan is touching the lamp (obvious?)
Lamps are bowed or bending
Lamps drop out in dim mode
Lamps are turning black in the middle (where the metal touches the glass)
Inconsistent starting
Inconsistent light levels
Fixture Construction and Best Practices
Wiring in the ballast chamber is critical to the quality of light and dimming
consistency between lamps. To minimize inconsistent dimming light levels and
to eliminate inconsistent lamp starting and lamp dropout, the following
guidelines MUST be followed:
– When the ballasts are installed, all lead wires should be kept as short as
possible
– Output leads (wires from the ballast to the lamp sockets) should not be
bunched, twisted, wrapped, or cable tied together.
– Input wires (power wires and control wires) should not be bunched, twisted,
wrapped, or wire tied together with the output wires.
– Input and output wires should be routed on opposite sides of the wire way
channel as best as possible.
Common Issues – Incorrect sockets
Rapid vs. Instant
start sockets
Instant start sockets
Rapid start sockets
vs.
S
Shunted
Jumpered
Common Issues – Incorrect sockets
Dimming ballasts must NEVER NEVER NEVER
be connected to instant start or shunted sockets!
Doing so instantly voids the warranty!
ALL BALLASTS AND LAMPS CONNECTED TO INSTANT START
OR SHUNTED SOCKETS MUST BE REPLACED AS THEY
HAVE BEEN PERMANENTLY DAMAGED.
YES, THE LAMPS TOO!
Common Issues – Wiring issues
Short lamp life – Is almost ALWAYS the result of a wiring issue
Wiring issues, Symptoms to look for:
Severe end blackening
Lamps drop out at lowest dimming level
Inconsistent / failure to start
Lamp flickering / flashing / strobing
Lamp Striations
Short Lamp Life
Short Ballast Life
Common Issues – Wiring issues (examples)
Correct parallel yellow
Correct parallel yellows
Incorrect parallel yellows
Common Issues – Wiring issues (examples)
Correct series yellow
Incorrect Correct series yellow
Common Issues – Wiring issues (examples)
Correct
Incorrect – Shorted Leads
Incorrect – Shunted Sockets
Common Issues
Other
Incorrect Control – Must be Mark 10 control
Flickering or drop out will occur if the input voltage is lower than 56vac for 120vac
applications or 129vac for 277vac application (as measured AT THE BALLAST)
Flickering due to a shared neutral
This is a requirement of some control manufacturers. This is not a function of the
ballast. The end user must be aware of the requirements of the controls they install.
Overloaded Controls
The control must be sized to handle the load. Overloaded controls could fail or result in
performance issues.
Common Issues
Other
Pinched or Shorted Control Wires
The system will be stuck in full dim mode. Will not respond to control signals. The
issue must be corrected for the system to work, but this will not result in permanent
ballast damage.
AC voltage applied to the control wires (purple and grey)
Trick question, this will not damage the ballast. The control leads on a Mark 7 ballast
are designed to withstand electrical shorts, pinched wires, and the misapplication of ac
voltage. However, potential damage to the controls will need to be reviewed with the
controls manufacturer.
Reversed Control Wires (purple and grey reversed)
System or individual fixtures will dim out of sequence. Single fixture occurrences
could reduce the top end light level of the entire circuit.
Overloaded Controls
The control must be sized to handle the load. Overloaded controls could fail or result in
performance issues.
Common Issues
Other
Pinched or Shorted Control Wires:
Will not respond to control signals.
Reversed Control Wires (purple and grey reversed)
Trick question, it doesn’t matter for ROVR. There is no polarity.
Noise on the control line
Wire routing is critical. Noise will result in sporadic dimming control.
Wiring Comparison
DIMMER
BLACK
WHITE
0-10V
Controller
BLACK
WHITE
VIOLET (+)
GREY(-)
DALI
Controller
BLACK
WHITE
VIOLET
VIOLET
Mark 10 Ballast
Lamp
Leads
Mark 7 Ballast
Lamp
Leads
ROVR Ballast
Lamp
Leads
Resources
www.advancetransformer.com/warranty
www.advancetransformer.com/support