Author Topic: "Convert" RS ballast to preheat?  (Read 1851 times)
themaritimegirl
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"Convert" RS ballast to preheat? « on: August 08, 2013, 09:07:03 PM » Author: themaritimegirl
Hi all,

Random idea I had the other day. What if one were to "convert" a rapid start ballast to preheat by removing one wire from each end of the lamp, and connecting the unconnected lamp pins with a starter? Do you think it would work? Has anyone actually tried it? I'm guessing an electronic unit wouldn't do too well, but I think it would possibly work on a magnetic unit. Of course, I'm assuming that except for the filament heating, a rapid start ballast works the same as a preheat one, which may not be true at all; I have no clue.

Any thoughts?
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Medved
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Re: "Convert" RS ballast to preheat? « Reply #1 on: August 11, 2013, 06:53:49 AM » Author: Medved
The RS need higher OCV, as there is no device to generate any ignition spike or so.
The consequence is higher losses and/or larger size of the RS ballast for the same lamp power and mains voltage compare to the preheater.
Other problem may arise from the ballast factor: In a preheat circuit, the ballast short circuit current is all available to heat up the electrodes before ignition, so it work only with full power ballast.
In an RS circuit the heating is provided by separate circuits, so it allow the main arc current to be reduced (to allow the use of common, cheaap tubes even on places, where their full rated light output would be too much, e.g. with home kitchen lights,...), so in other words lower ballast factor. For conversion to preheat it mean, the heating current would be too low, so it would become hard to start.
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joseph_125
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Re: "Convert" RS ballast to preheat? « Reply #2 on: August 11, 2013, 07:00:03 PM » Author: joseph_125
Dave here has tried it before with a LPF 1x F40 ballast and a HPF 2x F40 ballast.
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