[Shop-talk] Fluorescent ballasts in the cold

[Mark Andy]

Howdy,

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007, Randall wrote:
> I believe it's the tube that needs to be warm.
>
> Just letting them flicker might shorten bulb life a bit (I think each 
> flicker is like another starting cycle); but I don't believe it's very 
> much. One of mine flickers below 60, and I haven't noticed that it burns 
> bulbs out any quicker than the other fixtures.

My old shop had the old style ballasts on the lights.  They'd flicker for 
a while when it was cold out (this was in PA winter) and sometimes 
would take a decent while to turn on at all.  Never had any real problem 
other than that.

Mark