The fluorescent tubes in the laundry room fail to illuminate properly
and the diagnoses here is defective ballast.

I always thought that the "ballast" is part of the tube / bulb but
apparently it's part of the fixture.

So, I guess that in 2010 when we have to use fluorescent bulbs
throughout the house, we will need to buy new table lamps, ceiling
lights, etc. Is that right?

"Way Back Jack" wrote in message
...
The fluorescent tubes in the laundry room fail to illuminate properly
and the diagnoses here is defective ballast.

I always thought that the "ballast" is part of the tube / bulb but
apparently it's part of the fixture.

So, I guess that in 2010 when we have to use fluorescent bulbs
throughout the house, we will need to buy new table lamps, ceiling
lights, etc. Is that right?

Usually the long tubes that have a pin or 2 pins on each end go into a
fixture that will have a ballast in the fixture. Most fixtures (but not
all) will have one ballast for two tubes. That is if you have one tube,
there will be one ballast for that tube, if there are 2 tubes, there will
still be one ballast. If you have 4 tubes in a fixture most of the time it
will have 2 ballasts. The old ones are iron wrapped with wire like a
transfromer. Very heavy for the size. The newer ones may be electronic and
do not weigh very much.

The bulbs (tubes) that go into your table lamp and such that replace the
bulbs with filiments have a form of ballast built into the base of the bulb.
That is you just unscrew the old bulb and screw in the new one in your table
lamp and all is well. Same for any filiment type bulb. No differance to the
user.

Ralph Mowery wrote:
"Way Back Jack" wrote in message
...
The fluorescent tubes in the laundry room fail to illuminate properly
and the diagnoses here is defective ballast.

I always thought that the "ballast" is part of the tube / bulb but
apparently it's part of the fixture.

So, I guess that in 2010 when we have to use fluorescent bulbs
throughout the house, we will need to buy new table lamps, ceiling
lights, etc. Is that right?

Usually the long tubes that have a pin or 2 pins on each end go into a
fixture that will have a ballast in the fixture. Most fixtures (but not
all) will have one ballast for two tubes. That is if you have one tube,
there will be one ballast for that tube, if there are 2 tubes, there will
still be one ballast. If you have 4 tubes in a fixture most of the time it
will have 2 ballasts. The old ones are iron wrapped with wire like a
transfromer. Very heavy for the size. The newer ones may be electronic and
do not weigh very much.

The bulbs (tubes) that go into your table lamp and such that replace the
bulbs with filiments have a form of ballast built into the base of the bulb.
That is you just unscrew the old bulb and screw in the new one in your table
lamp and all is well. Same for any filiment type bulb. No differance to the
user.
It's too bad we went down this path.
Right now we throw away perfectly
good "ballasts" with every CFL. Some of
the early CFL-like lamps had
an electronic ballast which you keep,
just replacing the lamp part. Kind
of like the circular fluorescents and
the long tubes.

On 6/12/2009 5:34 AM Art Todesco spake thus:

It's too bad we went down this path. [meaning CFLs w/built-in ballasts]
Right now we throw away perfectly good "ballasts" with every CFL.
Some of the early CFL-like lamps had an electronic ballast which you
keep, just replacing the lamp part. Kind of like the circular
fluorescents and the long tubes.

Right. CFLs, while more energy-efficient than incandescent bulbs, are
hardly "green". This one oughta be forced back to the drawing board.


--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism

On Jun 12, 12:35*am, (Way Back Jack) wrote:
The fluorescent tubes in the laundry room fail to illuminate properly
and the diagnoses here is defective ballast.

I always thought that the "ballast" is part of the tube / bulb but
apparently it's part of the fixture.

So, I guess that in 2010 when we have to use fluorescent bulbs
throughout the house, we will need to buy new table lamps, ceiling
lights, etc. *Is that right?

Unless your fixture use 'starters' in addition to the ballasts!
However it appears that with the exception of several very old two and
three tube fixtures fluorescents I have stashed away somewhere, most
more modern North American fixtures (Those designed to operate at
1120, 208 or 347 volts 60 hertz) do not use starters.
While in other countries using say 230 volts 50 hertz they still do
seem to be fairly common?
Further comments welcomed.