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Re: [Shop-talk] tube fluorescent wattage

To: Randall <tr3driver@ca.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] tube fluorescent wattage
From: Phil Nase <nases@verizon.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:19:27 -0500
Just a note to thank Randall and the rest of you frequent posters for  
all your professional responses to these posts.  I barely understand  
most of the things you folks talk about but I wanted to thank you for  
your advice.

Maybe someday, if I live long enough, I will understand some of what  
you guys already forgot.

It's mostly Greek to me but I appreciate learning what you guys  seem  
to take for common knowledge.

This is a great list and I wanted to show some appreciation for the  
knowledge that gets handed out for free.

Just a dumba$$ accountant and part time Sprite mechanic.

Can you tell anything more than simple auto wiring confuses me?

Phil Nase
Quakertown, PA
http://home.comcast.net/~philnasecpa/



On Feb 28, 2009, at 2:50 PM, Randall wrote:

>> (all with 40 watt bulbs)
>
> Regular start, rapid start or instant start?
>
>> Interesting results, I think.
>
> That is interesting.  Thanks for the report.
>
>> I actually expected them to consume
>> more than the bulbs were rated assuming some inefficiency in
>> the ballast, and I expected the old magnetic ballast to
>> consume more than the solid state one.
>
> Me too.  But it makes sense to me that old bulbs draw less current,  
> so I'm
> still wondering how much power was actually making it to the bulbs.   
> That
> seems to me to be the way they usually fail, apparently the bulbs  
> lose gas
> and the current drops until the ballast can no longer hold a plasma  
> through
> the tube.  For bulbs with filaments, then the filament burns out  
> from the
> ballast having to constantly restart the tube (hence the flicker of  
> a dying
> fluorescent).  Instant start bulbs just keep restarting until either  
> the
> ballast dies (from the constant restarting) or the bulb finally  
> won't light
> at all.
>
>> I always wondered what was happening power-wise when magnetic
>> ballasts were flickering upon startup -- they are using very
>> little power until they warm up and reach full-illumination.
>
> Depends on the bulb type, I think.  Regular start bulbs (the ones  
> with a
> separate starter to replace) should be drawing filament power; while  
> I think
> the others would be drawing nothing at all.
>
>> Just to see if my Kill A Watt was reading low, I tested a new
>> 75 watt incandescent, and it showed 77 watts, so I think it
>> probably is close.
>
> Agreed.  But it would be interesting to test a larger selection of new
> bulbs, to see how much variation there is.  I doubt they worry much  
> about
> getting it exact.
>
> Randall
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