[Shop-talk] Shop light problems - update

[David Scheidt]

On Sun, Aug 8, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Darrell Walker <darrellw at ipns.com> wrote:
> B It wired up a bit differently (the original had more
> separate wires, the replacement mostly wires each end of the bulbs
together).

I missed this the first time around, but you mean there's only a blue
wire and a red wire, and not four wires per tube?  That's because
what've you've got is an "instant start" fixture.  It just provides a
high (1000 V or more) voltage when it's switched on, which is enough
to strike an arc in the tube directly.  That's not good for tube life,
but if you're only turning them on once a day, and they run three or
more hours at a shot, generally not a problem.  If you turn them on
and off a dozen times a day, you'll kill tubes pretty quickly, and
would benefit from a "rapid start" ballast, which provides a timed
pre-heat to get the bulb ready to strike.  They cost more, though.

> But it fired right up with the new ballast, and even seems brighter.
B What's
> more, I decided to try the "bad" bulbs (ones that no longer worked even in
the
> best of the original fixtures), and every one of them was fine with the
> replacement ballast! B I'm glad I hadn't had time to take them to the
hazardous
> waste drop off.
>
> -Darrell
>
> --
> Darrell Walker
> 66 TR4A IRS CTC67956L
> Vancouver, WA, USA
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--
David Scheidt
dmscheidt at gmail.com