Bathroom illuminated mirror problem

Roger Mills · 2018-11-23T22:43:24+00:00

I have an illuminated bathroom mirror which has two unsilvered vertical strips with 15w T8 fluorescent tubes behind them. The tubes are powered via a single 2-way electronic ballast.The lights have suddenly developed a fault. When turned on, they light normally but then go out after a few (4 or 5) seconds. If I then turn them off and wait a minute or so, I can turn them on again - and the cycle repeats. There's no way they'll stay on more than a few seconds.Anyone come across this sort of thing? AIUI, the ballast is supposed to deliver a high start-up current and then cut it to a lower level for running. So could it be cutting the current to zero rather than to the proper value?Is replacing the ballast likely to fix the problem, or could the tubes be at fault?The ballast is a Kengo KEB-215. I can't find one of these anywhere, or even one of another make with the same spec. The nearest I can find is a Tridonic 22185216 - which is 2 x 18w rather than 2 x 15w. It's also slightly longer, so I'd have to bodge the mounting brackets. Assuming I can make it physically fit, is the difference in electrical spec likely to be a problem?

Nov 23, 2018 Last reply: 4 years ago 23 Replies

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William 4 years ago

Thank you. This is precisely what happened to mine. I reversed the tube that was slightly blackened and hey presto! It works again.

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Brian Gaff 4 years ago

How old was this thread?

Actually you can get some tubes to work for a bit longer this way, but the light output is well below par. Brian

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Brian Gaff 4 years ago

Ah, I did not know he was ugly, how do you know? Brian

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