Home Repair & Maintenance Tips : How to Change a Ballast in a Fluorescent Light

Change a ballast in a fluorescent light using an electrical tester to check for safety, and by twisting it 30 degrees to loosen the light fixture. Find out how to change a ballast with tips from a handyman in this free video on home repair and maintenance.

Expert: Oscar Moreno
Contact: www.morenohomevisions.com
Bio: Oscar Moreno is the owner of Moreno Custom Home Visions in Austin, Texas.
Filmmaker: Todd Green

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• home repair
• home maintenance
• home remodeling

[rhynoceros]

make your own video then if your so concerned with public safety, because this is the only one i could find on youtube. and if you already know how to change a ballast, why are you watching this video?

[rickyrosan]

very good video and I don't understand how can people criticize this man's good instructions which helped me change my 2 ballasts. There are always some wise guys who think that they can do better. Bunch of empty talkers and pretenders. Thanks for the video

[MrHeerpie]

T12 lights are terrible for the environment and terrible to see with. Try taking out your two t12's. bumping up the ballast factor, and replacing with one 32watt 5000k t8 with a sweet reflector. you will notice the same light level (Lumens at the task area) Your energy consumption per fixture will jump from like .8 amps to .2 amps... worth it? how many lights do you have? more than two? I think so!

[thunderjohnson]

Not a good video.  Instructional videos need to be written so someone who has never done the task before can fully understand how to do it right and what can go wrong.

[golftrailsucks]

you shoudnt leave your blue and red wires too long. try not too leave too much excess. for future replacements, it will avoid bending the wirers. this will make it look clean and easy to view the wire connection for future replacements.

[telosfd]

Is this an electronic balast???????

[telosfd]

@TheChemist187 Replace the starters, with the same value starters. And remember if the color in the end of the lamp is to red replace the lamp!

[TheChemist187]

I did just this, my wires are the exact same as the guy in this videos. red, blue, yellow, and black and white for power. I replaced it and put new bulbs now the only thing I see i orange-ee light at the end of the lights all sides but nothing else happens. Can someone help?

[3Y3ECE]

everyone needs to know this.

[mrxenos]

Wow, you're supposedly an electrician and you don't see that his pliers have a wire cutter and stripper on the underside. It's a very common tool. He is NOT using the pliers to strip the wire. It's an actual wire stripper on the SAME tool, you tool.

[particle409]

I'm replacing the ballasts in my old lights. They look the same as in the video, but the ballast is really old, maybe late 70's? It's a "Universal Therm-O-Matic" rapid start ballast. "For two F30W T12/RS lamps, 120 volts, 60 cycles.

Can I just use replace with whatever ballast depending on the bulbs I use?