On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:53:04 GMT, Alex
wrote:
[snip]
Victor, I guess you differ and are saying that you feel the value of an
electronic fitting is greater than posted by meow2222/NT.
We do tend to differ on a number of lighting issues :-)
Against that the other poster lists that lower reliability and shorter
fitting life is a disadvantage and so is the extra cost of the unit plus
the cost/effort of installing it.
My understanding of that other post was that older
electronic ballasts had some reliability problems and that
make him shy away from even the modern, more reliable ones.
I sense that you feel that reduced energy consumption, reduced lamp
flicker and increased lamp life outweigh the disadvantages.
Its more than that, at least in the US. The best
fluorescent lamps from an energy efficiency point of view
are linear T5 and T8 lamps operating on high quality
electronic ballasts. The best fluorescent lamps from a
color quality issue are lamps using rare earth triphosphors.
The least expensive triphosphor lamps are linear T8 lamps,
with T5 next in line and T12 triphosphor lamps many times
the cost of equivalent length T12 lamps. In the US at
least, there are few EM ballasts for T8 lamps. So, the T8
+ electronic ballast combination often has a lower initial
cost than a T12 triphosphor lamp and an EM ballast.
Would I be right in getting the impression that, very broadly speaking,
it is a close call as to whether the pros outweigh the cons or vice
versa?
As opposed to meow2222/NT I believe that we should try to
save energy whenever possible. Your one lamp fixture may
not save a lot of energy, but when multiplied by the number
of people making this decision, the impact can be large.
Plus, I expect that when you see the cost of a triphosphor
version of your current lamp that alone will start you
looking at T8 systems.
--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
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