We have a fluorescent fixture that several people tried to repair while I was away. This is a simple fixture with a Philips BTA 36 W ballast and two 60 cm 18 W bulbs.

 

I swapped out the S10 starters with S2 starters from another fixture and problem solved, right? Yes, but neither Home Pro nor Global House had S2 starters. Both places recommended replacements that I suspected would not work. But they were cheap so I bought them and tried them and of course they did not work.

 

Thus my question. What would be the equivalent of Philips S2 starters?

 

Worst case I will just try the electrical shop on Wualai Road here in Chiang Mai when I am in the neighborhood.

If its tubes in series then it might well send someone crazy trying to fix it.

 

Any brand 4-22W starter should work but condition of the tubes, ballast, connectors and wiring must also be considered. 

 

Quickest way is with a test meter. 

Get a LED tube and forget about starters.

Yes, it's tubes in series and requires series tube starters as opposed to single tube starters.

 

The Philips S10 starters are marked single and the Philips S2 starters are marked series.

 

None of the other brands are marked as either and none of them work so I am assuming they are all single tube starters.

 

Agree about tubes in series driving you nuts and believe me when I find LED lamps that I like I will start switching.

I just realised as the tubes are series you have half the voltage and need 110v starters. The S2 must be special for this purpose.

Just got my S2 starters from the electrical shop on Wualai Road here in Chiang Mai. They had many boxes of the S10 starters and had to look in the back for the S2 starters. They didn't have that many and now they don't have any.