🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan4.225724.29960@panix.com> dannyb@panix.com (Daniel Burstein) writes:

>As long as you're replacing the unit, you might want to check out the
>high-frequency ballasts that have recently become available.  Rather than
>use the line frequency, which can leave your flourescents with a noticable
>flicker (especially when you're using them around electrical equipment),
>these are in the khz range, tend to be smaller and lighter, and
>(supposedely) use less power than the more traidtional units.


I will second this.  I am running my large basement office with 120 watts
into 4 tubes running off of two electronic ballasts.  It is very bright -
perhaps too bright.  Much brighter than the 160 watts of T12 40 watt that
used to be in here.  And brighter still than the 200 watts of rather dim
incandescent that were originally in here.  No flicker or noticable hum,
either (you can hear a slight hum if you park your ear right on the
ballast).  They also turn on right away, unlike the sputtering startup
of the old inductive ballast fixtures.

I am running single bulb fixtures (actually rewired double bulb fixtures,
two fixtures on one ballast).  The pre-modification fixtures are $8 each,
and the ballasts (which drive two tubes) are $36 each.  The T8 tubes are
$4 each, and come in a variety of spectrums.  The guy at the wholesale
lighting place I bought them from had display boxes with about 15
different shades of white, from pinkish to yellowish to bluish.
Deciding on the spectrum was the hardest part of the whole process.

By the way, the old style fat bulbs are T12, which means 12/8ths or 1.5
inches in diameter.  The new bulbs are T8, or 1.0 inch in diameter.
While the pin positions are the same, the bulbs are not electrically
compatable.  The T8 bulbs I have are made by Phillips.  The ballasts
are "EBT" from Taiwan.  I don't know where to find replacements besides
the wholesale lighting place - they aren't in the retail stores, which
may be a consideration for some.

I am saving about 500 watts over incandescent, 16 hours a day - about $150
a year in electricity, so the lashup pays for itself in less than a year.  
More importantly, I can stare down the eco-twits who demand legislation
and use incandescent lights themselves.  So much fun...

Fiat Lux!

Keith
-- 
Keith Lofstrom         keithl@klic.rain.com       Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Power ICs