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#1
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. Prior to
that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe |
#2
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 26, 6:12*pm, " wrote:
I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. *Prior to that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. *Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. *The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. *The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. *Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? *The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe Rather pointless, the real savings with fluorescent comes form leaving them on. They draw very little current running, but have a startup load like a motor. Motion sensors are better teamed with incandescent. |
#3
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 26, 6:12*pm, " wrote:
I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. *Prior to that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. *Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. *The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. *The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. *Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? *The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe Rather pointless, the real savings with fluorescent comes form leaving them on. They draw very little current running, but have a startup load like a motor. Motion sensors are better teamed with incandescent. |
#4
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 26, 5:49*pm, Eric in North TX wrote:
On Jan 26, 6:12*pm, " wrote: I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. *Prior to that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. *Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. *The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. *The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. *Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? *The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe Rather pointless, the real savings with fluorescent comes form leaving them on. They draw very little current running, but have a startup load like a motor. Motion sensors are better teamed with incandescent. Maybe he's not trying to save power. He just doesn't want the kitchen light on. |
#5
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 26, 6:12*pm, " wrote:
I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. *Prior to that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. *Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. *The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. *The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. *Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? *The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe Have you checked to see if they flicker when they are connected directly? |
#6
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
Nope, turning off lights saves energy (and thus money). The start-up
wattage for fluorescents isn't that much greater than running them. It CAN'T be, or you'd trip a circuit breaker. Even if they use ten times the power starting up (which they don't) for ten seconds (which they don't) that's still less than two minutes' worth of electricity to start up. So if your lights are off for two minutes you're better off than leaving them on. Shaun Eli www.BrainChampagne.com |
#7
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
You're not going to like the answer.
You'll have to buy a new motion sensor. The only one I know of that specifically mentions electronic ballasts is the Leviton OSSMT-MDW. You won't find it at any retail stores. Check online though. It goes for about $75 Just so you know, turning fluorescents on and off burns out the tubes faster. That's why the specs on a compact fluorescent is based on a minimum of 4 hours use. |
#8
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:28:00 -0600, Rick-Meister
wrote: You're not going to like the answer. You'll have to buy a new motion sensor. The only one I know of that specifically mentions electronic ballasts is the Leviton OSSMT-MDW. You won't find it at any retail stores. Check online though. It goes for about $75 Or just add a relay switch. Just so you know, turning fluorescents on and off burns out the tubes faster. That's why the specs on a compact fluorescent is based on a minimum of 4 hours use. True, but the newer lamps do not suffer the loss of live nearly as much as the older designs. |
#9
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 26, 7:49*pm, Eric in North TX wrote:
On Jan 26, 6:12*pm, " wrote: I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. *Prior to that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. *Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. *The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. *The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. *Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? *The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe Rather pointless, the real savings with fluorescent comes form leaving them on. They draw very little current running, but have a startup load like a motor. Motion sensors are better teamed with incandescent. That's an urban myth that was demolished on the Myth Busters show on TV. It's true flourescents draw a higher current at startup. But it lasts a second or so and doens't amount to that much energy. After that, the flourescents use substantially less energy. So, even if it's only going to be on for a couple minutes, you use less energy. |
#10
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
Rick-Meister wrote:
You're not going to like the answer. You'll have to buy a new motion sensor. The only one I know of that specifically mentions electronic ballasts is the Leviton OSSMT-MDW. You won't find it at any retail stores. Check online though. It goes for about $75 Just so you know, turning fluorescents on and off burns out the tubes faster. That's why the specs on a compact fluorescent is based on a minimum of 4 hours use. Even if true the lamps are not on as long so the time between replacing is longer. In the meantime you save energy. -- bud-- |
#11
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 27, 3:31*pm, bud-- wrote:
Rick-Meister wrote: You're not going to like the answer. You'll have to buy a new motion sensor. The only one I know of that specifically mentions electronic ballasts is the Leviton OSSMT-MDW. You won't find it at any retail stores. Check online though. It goes for about $75 Just so you know, turning fluorescents on and off burns out the tubes faster. That's why the specs on a compact fluorescent is based on a minimum of 4 hours use. Even if true the lamps are not on as long so the time between replacing is longer. In the meantime you save energy. -- bud-- I had that problem with my motion detector switch when I put flourescent lights in my bathroom Not wanting to spend the bucks on a new sensor or shel out the money again if it needed replacing I installed a contactor in the b light switch box. I had to add another box to hold the contactor but that wasnt too bacd since I was remodeling at the time. The new box and contactor was less than $10. Jimmie |
#12
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
Eric in North TX wrote:
... the real savings with fluorescent comes form leaving them on. They draw very little current running, but have a startup load like a motor. The startup energy is insignificant. Nick |
#13
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
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#14
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Motion Sensor for kitchen light issue
On Jan 29, 3:48*pm, wrote:
On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:07:53 -0600, The Daring Dufas wrote: wrote: I switched to a T-9 fluorescent light fixture in my kitchen. *Prior to that I had a light fixture with 3 75W compact fluorescent bulbs connected to a motion sensor. *Well, for some reason the new fluorescent T-9 bulbs flicker when activated with the motion sensor switch. *The compact fluorescent bulbs never had this issue. *The new fluorescent has an electronic ballast and 1 T-9 22W and 1 T-9 32W bulbs. *Would a place like Lowe's carry a motion sensor for this fluorescent light fixture? *The motion sensors in the store all said they'd work for fluorescent bulbs at least ones with magnetic ballasts but mine is electronic. Thanks JaKe A couple of folks already mentioned using a relay or contactor. The problem with inexpensive motion sensor light fixtures is the solid state switching using what is known as a triac or thyristor instead of a relay. It's possible that the electronic ballast of the CFL is disrupting the triac's trigger circuit. I haven't hooked one up to an oscilloscope yet but I may just have to in order to see if my guess is right. A relay is not bothered by harmonics on a small power circuit. TDD If the triac is driven into saturation both ways it is a switch. Some poorly designed detectors might not do that and the wave could be getting clipped.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - However it makes sense that turning any device on and off more frequently is almost bound to cause more 'wear and tear'. So if such a practice leads to the device (whatever it may be; fluorescent tubes, CFLs or other) lasting only half as long, the economics (and unnecessary extra labour of changing out the device) would favour 'leaving it ON' for steady periods and 'turning OFF' when leaving that area permanently. And once again my favourite rant! Any heat due to 'inefficiency' of older devices I might save by installing, say, CFLs, that use less electrcity, especially at night during this long cold winter, must be replaced by our electric heaters. So; leaving on the 100 watt reading lamp in the family room merely means that the 1500 watt electric heaters will come on for one fifteenth less time! At 10 cents per k.watt hour the 100 watt bulb will burn one cents worth of electricity. And if the 1500 watt heaters come on for one fifteenth less time they will burn 1/15 x 1500 = 100 fewer watts of electrcity; which at ten cents per kilowatt hour will cost one cent less for electric heating! Makes sense to me. BTW anybody remember those 'Easy bake' children's ovens that used two light bulbs to bake children's cookies? They got darn hot! |
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