Author Topic: Can 58W electronic ballast run a 36W fluorescent tube?  (Read 6111 times)
Indalux
Newbie
*
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery


prnlighting
WWW
Can 58W electronic ballast run a 36W fluorescent tube? « on: February 01, 2016, 08:14:32 AM » Author: Indalux
I want to install a 36W fluorescent tube in an electronic ballast, but I only have a 58W electronic ballast.

It's appropriate?
Can I have problems with the fluorescent tube or ballast?
It will consume too much energy?

Thank you!
Logged

English is not my native lenguage, sorry if I make mistakes.

dor123
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Other loves are computers, office equipment, A/Cs


WWW
Re: Can 58W electronic ballast run a 36W fluorescent tube? « Reply #1 on: February 01, 2016, 10:44:22 AM » Author: dor123
58W ballast will overdrive the 36W lamp and shorten its lifespan. You need a 40W/36W ballast for it to work correctly.
Logged

I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.

I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).

I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.

Medved
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Re: Can 58W electronic ballast run a 36W fluorescent tube? « Reply #2 on: February 02, 2016, 02:31:24 PM » Author: Medved
I want to install a 36W fluorescent tube in an electronic ballast, but I only have a 58W electronic ballast.

It's appropriate?
Can I have problems with the fluorescent tube or ballast?
It will consume too much energy?

Thank you!

It will be powered by about 55W, so 50% overdrive. With standard preheat connection that would mean quite severe overheating of the filaments...
Logged

No more selfballasted c***

Ash
Member
*****
Offline

View Posts
View Gallery


Re: Can 58W electronic ballast run a 36W fluorescent tube? « Reply #3 on: February 02, 2016, 03:15:02 PM » Author: Ash
Is the output current of such ballasts regulated mostly by the ferrite choke or by the inverter ?
Logged
Medved
Member
*****
Offline

Gender: Male
View Posts
View Gallery

Re: Can 58W electronic ballast run a 36W fluorescent tube? « Reply #4 on: February 03, 2016, 01:30:47 AM » Author: Medved
The current is always limited by the impedance of the choke (the same way as any other series reactor ballast, only the operating frequency is high, therefore the choke small and has nearly no losses).
But the impedance is a function of the operating frequency.
And the frequency is generated by the inverter.
And in the way, how the frequency is steered, the ballast concepts differ.
Some use really fixed frequency (steered by an RC time constant), so the reactance is constant, so the current depend on the actual load voltage (the elliptical characteristic, like normal magnetic ballast). This concept is most frequently used with intelligent programmed start ballasts, where such oscillator is the simplest solution.

Some designs utilize the frequency dependency of the coil impedance and so steer the frequency so, the resulting current is about constant in quite wide range of load and line voltages. This behavior is intrinsic to the ring core transformer feedback self oscillating ballasts (the switching points, so the current, is dictated by the ring core saturating).
And most dimmable ballast use a feedback system adjusting the oscillator so to get the desired lamp current according to the actual dimmer setting. There it is necessary mainly because tat low setting the actual current becomes extremely sensitive on any component variation, so without the feedback it would require unfeasible accuracy of all involved components (include the lamp). The feedback then works the same way at full power setting, just the set current corresponds to the full rated current.

The F36T8 and F58 have about the same arc voltages, so the current will remain the same on any of the ballast concepts...
Logged

No more selfballasted c***

Print 
© 2005-2024 Lighting-Gallery.net | SMF 2.0.19 | SMF © 2021, Simple Machines | Terms and Policies