Electronic ballast, type LCG 500, for Uni Aqua ultraviolet systems, driving two G64T5L lamps from one unit. A UV ballast (lamp driver) is not a simple transformer. It strikes the arc in the lamp and then holds the discharge current constant for the rest of the lamp’s life, because a gas discharge has a negative resistance characteristic and would otherwise draw increasing current until it destroyed itself. Germicidal output is a direct function of that current being held correctly, so a failing or mismatched ballast shows up as under-dose long before it shows up as a dead lamp. The G64T5L is a 65 W low-pressure amalgam germicidal lamp on a T5 tube, emitting at 254 nm and running at 425 mA, in the ozone-free (doped quartz) construction used for water treatment. Because the ballast sets that operating current, pairing a G64T5L with a driver intended for a different lamp current will either fail to strike it or run it away from its rated germicidal output. Supplied by cBallast on quote-to-invoice terms; lead time and freight are quoted per RFQ against the destination Incoterm.