Bottle door lighting problem

[BrianB]

I am currently in the middle of restoring my Vendorlator 117 B-H. I have completely disassembled the machine to facilitate the restoration. Prior to taking the machine apart, the Bottle Door Light didn't work properly. I figured that after I took this beast apart I would re-wire and replace the ballast, starter,bulb receptacle and bulb. I did all of the above and while conducting a system test to include the refrigeration unit and vending mechanism, I noticed that the same problem was occuring.

The bulb itself flickers and tries to start but won't. The starter is countinuously firing trying to get the bulb to light. I was initially worried about polarity. I remembered when I removed the old ballast (suspect part) it had (2) black leads. The one that I ordered from Soda Jerk Works has (1) black and (1) white. The new ballast is NOS/OEM, so I figured that it was "plug n' play". The rating on the ballast is suitable for the light (18 inch 15 watt 120 VAC). So after the initial problem I swapped leads to the reverse of the way I had them just to see if it made a difference, in addition I changed out the starter with a known good and chnaged out the bulb and bulb receptacle with know goods. It still didn't help.

The only thing I can think of now is this, The NOS ballast I bought was bad out of the box. The ballast would be considered a "single point of failure" along with the bulb and starter. Right now It seems like I'm chasing my tail. I don't want to have to shell out another $30 some odd dollars for another ballast just to satisfy a hunch. That means waiting a couple of weeks for the thing to arrive via mail and that's torture!!

Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[johnieG]

Well, you're on the right track. the ballest is used to limit the current through the lamp, ( an electric arc is bassically a short-circut as far as electricty is concerned) here's how the circut lights the lamp...

1: You turn on the switch, completeing the circut.
2: The current flows through the ballast into the filiments at each end off the tube, this ionizes the mercury ( in the tube) into a hot gas.
3: The electricity strikes an arc across the tube & the current flow rises.
4: the ballast now limits the current flowing through the lit tube, & the starter is basically shunted ( bypassed by the electricity) being the like water, electricity will flow along the path of least resistance. the starter opens & turns off current to the filiments.
5: the lamp is lit. ( or should be, anyway!)

if the lamp flickers ( try's to strike an arc) the goes out, then the currents being interuppted, or the filiments did not have enough time to warm-up the gas to strike an the arc

A: the lamp's sockets are loose
B: the wrong size starter is being used, ( should be an F2 size), but check the starter, it will list the size of lamps it's intended to be used with.
C: the starters socket is damaged or loose
D: the metal housing must be grounded ( this aids in starting the lamp)
E: the ballast has a loose connection, or a cold solder joint internally.
F: or just a bad Lamp!  & a bad (shorted) ballast will "Pop" a lamp like a flashbulb (remember those??)

if the ballast is intermittant, the ends of the lamp will glow, then it will attempt to light, & flicker & go out

[MoonDawg]

Thanks Johnie. Very informative.  

[BrianB]

Welp....It turns out that the ballast I received was the incorrect part. It was only rated up to 10 watts. It looks exactly like my original. I guess maybe I should have drilled a little deeper for more info prior to ordering it. I figure that by providing the Make/model of my machine that I would have gotten the proper part. Such is life. Instead of shelling out another $23 bucks, I went to Lowes and found a ballast that is almost the same exact size (maybe 1/2" longer) for $4.79. Got home and wired it up and.....PRESTO! we have lights! I really appreciate the quick response. It helped me re-analyze the situation and get back to the basics.

Brian

[johnieG]

Happy to help get your machine lit-up again!

Yep! as stated above, ballasts are rated on what size
(wattage) bulb(s) they are intended to go with....

Next time I'll show you a trick to convert an old push-to-start type or a starter type of light-up sign into an instant start, using a circle-lamp ballast.