On 3 Dec 2006 05:24:07 -0800, wrote:


Electronic components are getting less expensive and sturdier, more
robust. Circuit designs are improved upon those that failed the test of
time.

This is correct, but it is not the relevant fact. What is relevant is
that the market is more cost driven and aggressive than in the past,
and many electronic goods that were once reliable have become much less
reliable, some to the point of disposable. This is primarily
competition driven. Electronic reliability depends on design margins,
and design margins depend on money. hence, not surprisingly, cheap
electronic goods are not known for reliability.

To replace a mag ballast with en electronic one and expect greater
reliability would be optimism over fact.

I don't think anyone has claimed that electronic ballasts
are more reliable than EM ballasts. After all, EM ballast
have only a few parts and perhaps 20 connections, while
electronic ballasts have perhaps 30 to 50 components and
perhaps 70 to 100 connections.

EM ballasts have lives of well over 20 years, at least in
the US, and it is not necessary for electronic ballasts to
have better reliability than EM ballasts in order for them
to be a good idea. If the life of an electronic ballast is
20 years, the room will probably be renovated before the
ballasts die.

I can't quite figure out why you believe that electronic
ballasts have serious reliability issues. It sounds like
you are stuck in 1980, a few years after the introduction of
electronic ballasts. I assume you own a TV set, some sort
of music system, perhaps a DVD player, own a car with an
electronic control system, travel in airplanes that use
electronic control systems, and, yes, that computer that you
are using to post your messages. I have not seem any
mechanical computers that have newsgroup readers, so I
assume you are using an electronic computer :-)

In 2005 there were 61,269,000 electronic fluorescent lamp
ballasts sold in the US. See Current Industrial Reports -
Fluorescent Lamp Ballasts: 2001, available at
http://www.census.gov/cir/www/335/mq335c.html.

With this many ballast sold, we would have a lot of very
angry customers if the failure rate was not very low.

--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
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