In article ,
Martin Brown writes:
On 13/04/2012 09:43, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Twin tube 18W/24" single ballast is one of the most commonly used
commercially, and starters used in these will be easily available
from any electrical wholesaler, or a good retail lighting store.
These are normally rated for 4-22W, but using starters as you go
lower down that power range becomes more wearing on the tubes,
and you will get short tube life, particularly if switched on/off
frequently. You might want to consider completely removing the
starters and ballast and replace with electronic control gear
suitable for those tubes.

I am unsure how the full electronic ballasts would work with a pair of
tubes in series like this - fluoro lighting gear really isn't my thing.
I just identify the dead part and try to replace like with like.

It is intrinsic that they will be switched on and off once per day.

Meanwhile, you could replace the tubes with a piece of raw chicken,
and you'll probably find the zapper is 10 times more effective than
it used to be...

I don't think the village hall committee would like that solution.
I confess I am half tempted to try a pair of 3W blue LEDs instead.

The wavelength used by most insects to navigate is actually in the
UV just outside our visible range, although insects can see our
visible blue, and to a lesser extent, our green too. I suspect the
zapper tubes are matched to this spectrum, but an LED won't be.
Also, an insect needs to see a large area of light, not a small
intense dot. Blue LEDs are a health risk to human eyes, so
considering all this, I would not suggest you try using a blue LED.

--
Andrew Gabriel
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