electronic ballast failed

[mark]

I have a back lit mirror. It has a circular t8 (or it could end up being a t9 if ever the t8 needs replacing) 40watt fluorescent tube. It had a very cheap Chinese ballast which has died (the damaged components can be seen). I have tried to identify a replacement ballast but I'm having some trouble.

Does it have to be a specific ballast for circular tubes? I was under the impression they were just bent straight tubes. The bulb is NOT a compact thin tube it is a t8. It does not need to be dimmable. It does need to be quick start.

All the ballasts I have found seem to be for 36 watt or 58 watt. Even on the sites of manufactureres who sell circular 40 watt t8 bulbs they will not have a 40 watt ballast to suit. They do have 40 watt ballasts for the t5 compact type bulbs.

I feel I'm missing something here, my wholesalers seem to be at a loss as well as we have already been sent 2 incorrect ballasts.

Please help.

[meow2222]

uses same ballast as a 40w linear

36w ballast will work fine.

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

The tube being bent doesn't matter. You need a ballast designed for that diameter tube. I thought circline tubes were T9, not T8, but that difference probably doesn't much matter.

A 36W one will probably do. Finding one that's instant start can be difficult, because manufacturers tend to (wrongly in my view) use the term to mean any electronic control gear. I have ones which do a 1.5 second preheat, but they are still called instant start. You have to read their detailed datasheets to find what sort of starting the ballast really has.

[mark]

In message , [e-mail] writes

Thank you very much.

[mark]

I thin this interpretation of instant start would be fine for my purposes. Thanks for all the help.