fluorescent basics
 

Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the
better. If anyone can suggest a specific manufacturer or supplier, I'd
appreciate it.

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:07:52 -0000, "stuart noble"
wrote:

Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the
better. If anyone can suggest a specific manufacturer or supplier, I'd
appreciate it.



I've bought fittings like that from WF ELectrical.

THey have their own brand, Alto, which is fairly reasonable.

You could try using the phrase "electronic ballast" in your
description.



--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

stuart noble wrote:
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the

Instant start will significantly reduce the life of the tube.

Ian Stirling wrote:
stuart noble wrote:
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the

Instant start will significantly reduce the life of the tube.

I thought, however, that electronic control gear *improved* the life
of the tube as well as giving faster 'smoother' startup.

--
Chris Green

On 23 Nov 2004 15:50:26 GMT, Ian Stirling
wrote:

stuart noble wrote:
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the

Instant start will significantly reduce the life of the tube.


From an electronic ballast?

I don;t think so....



--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...


fluorescent

HEY! This is uk.diy. You're not allowed to spell it like that!

Mary

Andy Hall wrote in message
I've bought fittings like that from WF ELectrical.

THey have their own brand, Alto, which is fairly reasonable.

A shame their website is being revamped, but I'll ring the local branch.
Thanks for the lead.

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
et...

"stuart noble" wrote in message
...


fluorescent

HEY! This is uk.diy. You're not allowed to spell it like that!

ROFL!! So it's not just me then!! Just out of interest though, looking at
google:

"Fluorescent" gets 142,000 hits in "all groups" compared to 61,700 for
"Flourescent" (a ratio of 2.30:1), whereas the comparable figures for
uk.d-i-y on its own are 2,040 and 614 respectively (a ratio of 3.32:1)

From this I conclude:

(a) in fact, uk.d-i-y users are actually MORE likely to get it right than
usenet users as a whole - although I'll have to leave it somebody else to
determine the statistical significance; and

(b) I need to get out more.

David

Mary Fisher wrote:

HEY! This is uk.diy. You're not allowed to spell it like that!

You may find the following classic thread from 1998 to be entertaining:
http://www.google.com/groups?threadm....demon. co.uk

--
Andy

"stuart noble" wrote in message ...
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the
better. If anyone can suggest a specific manufacturer or supplier, I'd
appreciate it.

2700k tube. 27k would be black :)

"Lobster" wrote in message
...

fluorescent

HEY! This is uk.diy. You're not allowed to spell it like that!

ROFL!! So it's not just me then!! Just out of interest though, looking
at google:

"Fluorescent" gets 142,000 hits in "all groups" compared to 61,700 for
"Flourescent" (a ratio of 2.30:1), whereas the comparable figures for
uk.d-i-y on its own are 2,040 and 614 respectively (a ratio of 3.32:1)

From this I conclude:

(a) in fact, uk.d-i-y users are actually MORE likely to get it right than
usenet users as a whole - although I'll have to leave it somebody else to
determine the statistical significance; and

(b) I need to get out more.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Where shall we go?

Mary

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 19:17:03 -0000, "stuart noble"
wrote:


Andy Hall wrote in message
I've bought fittings like that from WF ELectrical.

THey have their own brand, Alto, which is fairly reasonable.

A shame their website is being revamped, but I'll ring the local branch.
Thanks for the lead.

They have a catalogue with some quite good stuff.

For example, I needed some 3 compartment trunking and components a
while back and they were about 40% less than the major brands.
The Alto product turned out to be Gilflex, which is a major brand
anyway, and the Gilflex name is still on there.

Don't forget to ask for discount, or better phrase the question as
though they are going to give you discount.





--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

"Andy Wade" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher wrote:

HEY! This is uk.diy. You're not allowed to spell it like that!

You may find the following classic thread from 1998 to be entertaining:
http://www.google.com/groups?threadm....demon. co.uk

It was more than entertaining, my drawers will never dry!

Thank you thank you thank you ...

Bookmarked for the future!

I though I might offend someone, I'm glad I took the risk :-)

Mary

"Ian Stirling" wrote
| I thought, however, that electronic control gear *improved*
| the life of the tube as well as giving faster 'smoother' startup.
| True "instant start", with the heaters cold, and tubes not especially
| designed for it, do indeed reduce the life.

But tubes are cheap as chips[1] and last for ages anyway.

Owain

[1] Possibly less, the prices that chip shops are charging now. Over 20
Irn-Bru empties for a fish supper last time I looked.

On 23 Nov 2004 12:31:48 -0800, (N. Thornton) wrote:

"stuart noble" wrote in message ...
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the
better. If anyone can suggest a specific manufacturer or supplier, I'd
appreciate it.

2700k tube. 27k would be black :)


Perhaps he wants it for a disco. Haven't you heard of black light?



--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Ian Stirling wrote in message ...
stuart noble wrote:
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the

Instant start will significantly reduce the life of the tube.

(Electronic)Instant start will significantly Increase the life of the tube

Regards
Bob

They have a catalogue with some quite good stuff.

For example, I needed some 3 compartment trunking and components a
while back and they were about 40% less than the major brands.
The Alto product turned out to be Gilflex, which is a major brand
anyway, and the Gilflex name is still on there.

Don't forget to ask for discount, or better phrase the question as
though they are going to give you discount.

Cheers, Andy.

In article ,
Ian Stirling writes:
stuart noble wrote:
Having spent an hour talking to electrical wholesalers who have no idea what
I'm talking about, thought I'd ask the question here.
I'm looking for a standard 4ft fluorescent fitting with an instant (or close
to it) start. If I can get a warm white 27K tube to go with it, so much the

Instant start will significantly reduce the life of the tube.

This area is a confusing mess because terms are not used consistently.
To some people, instant start means fully striking the tube within a
fraction of a second. To other people, it simply means electronic
control gear, unfortunately. Until you actually get hold of the
control gear and try it, it's almost impossible to determine which
version of "instant start" is meant. In some cases, manufacturers do
both variants (e.g. the Philips matchbox ballasts for compact
fluorescents), in which case they'll describe the difference in
behaviour of the two types. Some time ago, I came across a ballast
which was switch selectable (one of the first mains electronic
ballasts I saw), but I don't think anyone has donw that for years now.

As an example, I bought a couple of Relco instant start ballasts
for 58W tubes. A year later, I bought one more, identical part/model
number, and it's now got a 1.5 second preheat. Bummer.

Real instant start will be more punishing on the tube. Personally,
I don't care. I just fitted two in a bathroom because I want the
light fully on the instant I pull the cord, not 1-2 seconds later.

--
Andrew Gabriel

WF Electrical seem to be a bit more on the ball than anyone else I've
approached. Electronic ballast, warm white? You want a high frequency
fitting with colour 827, mate. Sounds convincing.....