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#1
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Flourescent lights
Will someone please explain overhead fluorescent lights for me. What is a ballast--- or starter or light tube? Sometimes some of them work and sometimes others may work. Are LED lites much better? Thanx for any reply Herb
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#2
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Flourescent lights
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#4
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Flourescent lights
On 10/25/2018 5:18 PM, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 16:23:15 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote: On 10/25/2018 3:27 PM, wrote: Will someone please explain overhead fluorescent lights for me. What is a ballast--- or starter or light tube? Sometimes some of them work and sometimes others may work. Are LED lites much better? Thanx for any reply Herb LED lights are much better. Last longer and are cheaper to operate. Starters are a little metal can that screws into the fixture. They have been pretty much eliminated in the past 25+ years now. The ballast is a heavy electrical device that powers the tube. It is inside the fixture, usually a long black thing. They do burn out at times. The light tubes is the visible glass tube that lights up. Best to replace both of them at the same time if a fixture has two, but can have four. The ends often start to go black when old and ready to burn out. If you are having problems, the smartest thing you can do is replace them with LED fixtures. ANd LED lights do not emit ultraviolet so they don't cause color fading. Best solution is to replace the flourescent fixture with dedicated LED fixture rather than retrofitting Â* The most cost-effective solution is to buy tubes on ebay and rewire your existing fixtures . The ones I got were less than 5 bucks each ... and it took an average of 10 minutes each to rewire the fixtures . More light than I've ever had , and I have 2 spares if one ever fails . -- Snag Yes , I'm old and crochety - and armed . Get outta my woods ! |
#5
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UV and LEDs, was: Flourescent lights
In Clare Snyder writes:
ANd LED lights do not emit ultraviolet so they don't cause color fading. Many do, in fact. Causes problems in professional photography. Quoting a friend in another thread: "They don't leak a lot of UV, but they leak enough that blue flowers will turn pink when photographed ..." -- __________________________________________________ ___ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] |
#6
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UV and LEDs, was: Flourescent lights
The ballast in my basement kitchen fixture went bad.
I replaced it with an LED tube. I wired it direct. You can buy either kind - the tube you use with a ballast, or the tube you wire directly. The advantage of the ballast type is that you can always swap in a regular tube if you don't like the LED. But I didn't have that option. The disadvantage is you might have to change out the coffins (the sockets that hold the tube.) That may or may not be an issue. Mine has run fine for a couple of years. It starts slower than the regular fluorescent did, but seems immune to the cold. I don't heat the basement and in the winter the lights would warm up a bit slow. The LED takes a moment to come on but then it's full brightnest. It uses less electricity. And, it is less bright. But not enough to be a problem. Replacement is going to be a problem, the big box stores no longer carry that type around here. |
#7
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UV and LEDs, was: Flourescent lights
On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 17:43:39 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote: The ballast in my basement kitchen fixture went bad. I replaced it with an LED tube. I wired it direct. You can buy either kind - the tube you use with a ballast, or the tube you wire directly. The advantage of the ballast type is that you can always swap in a regular tube if you don't like the LED. But I didn't have that option. The disadvantage is you might have to change out the coffins (the sockets that hold the tube.) That may or may not be an issue. Mine has run fine for a couple of years. It starts slower than the regular fluorescent did, but seems immune to the cold. I don't heat the basement and in the winter the lights would warm up a bit slow. The LED takes a moment to come on but then it's full brightnest. It uses less electricity. And, it is less bright. But not enough to be a problem. Replacement is going to be a problem, the big box stores no longer carry that type around here. They will soon be deader than a dodo bird. They do not meet ANY real safety certifications. They have already been "outlawed" in Canada. The USA won't be far behind. I find my "direct replacement" LED tubes significantly brighter than my Deluxe Warm White 34 watt tubes. Not sure about the old 40 watt units. |
#8
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UV and LEDs, was: Flourescent lights
On Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 8:43:45 PM UTC-4, TimR wrote:
The ballast in my basement kitchen fixture went bad. I replaced it with an LED tube. I wired it direct. You can buy either kind - the tube you use with a ballast, or the tube you wire directly. The advantage of the ballast type is that you can always swap in a regular tube if you don't like the LED. But I didn't have that option. The disadvantage is you might have to change out the coffins (the sockets that hold the tube.) That may or may not be an issue. That is an issue. They are commonly called tombstones, because that's what they look like, not coffins. Mine has run fine for a couple of years. It starts slower than the regular fluorescent did, Is that a typical characteristic of these? That's surprising, because the typical LED bulbs you buy for other applications today are instant on. but seems immune to the cold. I don't heat the basement and in the winter the lights would warm up a bit slow. The LED takes a moment to come on but then it's full brightnest. It uses less electricity. And, it is less bright. But not enough to be a problem. Replacement is going to be a problem, the big box stores no longer carry that type around here. |
#9
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UV and LEDs, was: Flourescent lights
On Thu, 25 Oct 2018 23:39:26 +0000 (UTC), danny burstein
wrote: In Clare Snyder writes: ANd LED lights do not emit ultraviolet so they don't cause color fading. Many do, in fact. Causes problems in professional photography. Quoting a friend in another thread: "They don't leak a lot of UV, but they leak enough that blue flowers will turn pink when photographed ..." From premierltg.com Some in the lighting business have stated that LEDs do not produce UV radiation. However studies have shown that standard LEDs do create a small amount of UV. That said, the amount of UV they actually emit is even less. This is due to the phosphors within an LED lamp that convert the Ultraviolet light to white light. We all know that exposure to UV radiation leads to sunburn, and in extreme scenarios can lead to eye problems, skin cancer, weakening of the immune system, and more. Fortunately, most artificial light sources do not emit enough UV for this to be a real concern. CFL lamps, already a worry for their mercury content, are being studied for the UV they put out. While not emitting a significant amount of UV, some people who are very sensitive to UV may be affected by the amount of UV produced by CFLs. Health Canada recommends that people keep a distance of 30 cm or more from any light source. An additional concern with UV output is color degradation. CFL and HID lamps have been known to cause damage to shades, carpets, painted surfaces, and more due to UV emissions. This has been another motivating factor for places like museums to retrofit to LED. |
#10
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Flourescent lights
On 10/25/18 12:27 PM, wrote:
Will someone please explain overhead fluorescent lights for me. What is a ballast--- or starter or light tube? Sometimes some of them work and sometimes others may work. Are LED lites much better? Thanx for any reply Herb Hmmm. An on topic question. What to think ... Here are some good references: http://edisontechcenter.org/Fluorescent.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp The ballast specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluore...st_electronics I would personally go with LED. No glass tubes to shatter when you fumble them, they are lower power, they run cool and they last forever. Well, almost. |
#11
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Flourescent lights
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