hey guys,
we have seen lots of interest in the re-use of cfl's lately..this hack may come in handy when attempting to power a linear florescent tube or one of the speciality bulbs like the G24's.
it's upsetting to try and buy a ballast for some of these things! many times we find that a replacement part is more than the whole fixture was new!
here is a cfl that the tube broke on, but the ballast was still good.. we just added a few leads and we are good to go with a comparable rated tube or a non self ballasted G24 type tube.
a couple of pics
add some leads onto the four "prongs"..we bent open the crimped hook connections and re crimped on some awg 18 wire and heat shrinked the connections.
powering a F24T5/830/HO tube.
it's all good fun!
WARNING: there is enough power here to KILL you!..and if that is news to you please don't do this!
cheers. dave