>Phil Ethier wrote:
>>>I would like overhead fixtures to flood the whole area with light, and
>>>these should light up quickly (not slow like florescent lights).
>>
>>
>> Eh? My florescent lights got from off to full brightness in less than a
>> second. Why would you need anything faster in a shop lighting system?
>
> That was my post as well, however, after I posted, I thought of a few
> exceptions that perhaps Jan might be thinking of.
>
>
> When I first bought a package and installed one, I though "ungh, this
>is unacceptable, these are going straight back to the store", instead of
>a 60w bulb they seemed like a 10w nightlight. But after a few minutes
>they were fine, and since I leave the lights on all the time, that was
>good enough for me.
>
> Perhaps Jan has experienced flourescent lights similar to this?
The start up time of fluorescent bulbs depends on the type of ballast
used. Modern fixtures light up more or less instantly, but some
older ones do not.
It wouldn't surprise me to find out that some of the el cheapo
F-lights are still using pre-heat ballasts, which are the sort that
require a seperate starter, and take longer to light up.
F-lights are also temperature dependent. They simply don't work well at
low temperatures. There are some things that you can do about this.
The easiest is nothing; modern ballasts will usually start a bulb
until about freezing, or even colder, and once the lamp is started,
it puts off heat. If the fixture has a diffuser, or other way to
trap the heated air, they may well work well. There are also special
bulbs, for normal fixtures for cold use. I think they have a
differnt gas filling, but I'm not sure. there are also fixtures that
are specially designed for cold weather/ condition use (like inside a
freezer).
For shop lighting, this shouldn't really matter, as if it's too cold for the
lamps to work, it's too cold to work on the car!
David
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