WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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HID, LPS, and preheat fluorescents forever!!!!!!
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| When I tried lighting a 18w SOX lamp on a single lamp F40T12 preheat ballast using an FS4 starter, the lamp was able to ignite. The ballast did get pretty warm and the lamp seemed okay. I do understand that F40T12 lamps run at 100v 0.43a while SOX-18 lamps run at 57v 0.2a. Should this drastically affect the life of the bulb and the ballast? I am looking for an affordable alternative to a SOX18 ballast using a magnetic ballast that will drive the lamp properly on 120v 60hz. I am NOT looking for electronic ballasts to drive SOX18 lamps since those ballasts do not produce the mains flicker that I enjoy from using electromagnetic ballasts.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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lights*plus
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This is how I'd approach this: Measure the light or measure the lamp current (preferably both!). Measure the light output: Drive a SOX or SOX-E 18w properly and take a pic of the lamp and surrounding area with your best camera (which should have an internal light-meter). If you don't have a "good" camera you should buy a light meter (lux-meters are~$8 on eBay from china) and use that instead. With the F40T12 ballast use the exact same socket set-up with your 18w lamp and take a pic with your camera using precisely the same settings. Do the histograms match? Do they come close? Measure the lamp current: Your desire to light a SOX lamp with a 60Hz F40T12 ballast is to your advantage because you can EASILY measure the lamp current with a clamp-meter, even a cheap one like this. |
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lights*plus
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I should also mention that I personally would not worry about any 18w SOX or SOX-E run on a F40T12 preheat. The correct lamp currents are HERE I don't know where you got 0.2A but that's incorrect. |
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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HID, LPS, and preheat fluorescents forever!!!!!!
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| I sourced that information from sailormoon_01_uk’s collection of low pressure sodium lamps.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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xmaslightguy
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| You're probably going to fry a preheat ballast by doing that (not to mention overdrive the SOX), the spec's are too far off.
A more modern HPF F40/F30 RS ballast might work, since they don't run the lamps at a full 430ma (note: must be HPF! .. LPF will not work. (modern HPF RS works more like a 'constant-current' source, so lamps of various lengths will run at the same current but voltage will vary .. LPF on the other hand, shorter lamp will run at higher current.))
If you can find a HPF F20 RS ballast, that might be a good option as well.
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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| For some reason, my 18w SOX lamp did not fire on a F20 RS ballast.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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| Will I also fry a F40 preheat ballast by running a 35w SOX lamp on it along with a 35w SOX ignitor? I understand that 35w SOX lamps do run at 70v 0.6a while F40T12 runs at 100v 0.43a.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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xmaslightguy
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| OCV on the F20 RS might be too low to strike it.
The F20 RS ballast I have will light/run a F40, but I've never tried anything other than that & F20's
I don't know on the 40 preheat running a 35w SOX as far as the ballast goes, but you'll be underdriving the SOX, which from my understanding will significantly shorten its lifespan.
Its really going to depend on what length fluorescent-lamp the ballast "sees" the SOX as...as to what current/voltage you end up with. If you end up exceeding 430ma my too much, you'll overheat the ballast.
One thing I'm not sure on with preheat for longer lamps (F30+) is if they operate more like a HPF RS ('constant current' source), or more like LPF RS (which may be closer to a 'constant voltage' source).
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lights*plus
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| I'm going to try some of these higher watt RS & preheat, keeping an eye on the lamp current with my meter. I had tried on a simple 15-20w choke without sustaining a discharge.
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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| What about trying a 39w MH ballast for 35w sox?
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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HID, LPS, and preheat fluorescents forever!!!!!!
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OCV on the F20 RS might be too low to strike it.
The F20 RS ballast I have will light/run a F40, but I've never tried anything other than that & F20's
I don't know on the 40 preheat running a 35w SOX as far as the ballast goes, but you'll be underdriving the SOX, which from my understanding will significantly shorten its lifespan.
Its really going to depend on what length fluorescent-lamp the ballast "sees" the SOX as...as to what current/voltage you end up with. If you end up exceeding 430ma my too much, you'll overheat the ballast.
One thing I'm not sure on with preheat for longer lamps (F30+) is if they operate more like a HPF RS ('constant current' source), or more like LPF RS (which may be closer to a 'constant voltage' source).
Is 0.6a enough to overheat the F40 ballast? |
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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lights*plus
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What about trying a 39w MH ballast for 35w sox?
Oddly, I have numerous electronic M139/C139 ballasts but I don't have a magnetic one. After thinking about this for a bit, an electronic ballast should work. I see the OCV showing at 280v. |
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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Oddly, I have numerous electronic M139/C139 ballasts but I don't have a magnetic one. After thinking about this for a bit, an electronic ballast should work. I see the OCV showing at 280v.
Be careful, M139 is an ANSI code that specifies a 70w MH lamp and NOT a 39w MH lamp. A 39w MH ballast has a ANSI code of M130 actually. I am talking about running 35w SOX lamps on those ballasts. |
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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xmaslightguy
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Is 0.6a enough to overheat the F40 ballast? Yes, .6a (600ma) would overheat the ballast in short order... But it doesn't work that way. The lamp may be rated at .6a, but the ballast won't go by the lamp's rating, it will go by how its designed (the primary thing being to limit current) and lamp length... For LPF there is the "designed for" range of lamps. Within that, a shorter lamp (less voltage drop) is more current, a longer lamp (higher voltage drop) is less current (with the max current being as an example 430ma). If you go with too short of a lamp, its not enough voltage drop so the current goes up above spec - overdriving both lamp & ballast (that's where it'll overheat.) If you go with too long of a lamp, the voltage drop is more than spec, so current is below spec - underdriving both lamp & ballast (if OCV is high enough to strike it). In this case the ballast will run cooler, but the lamp will be dim (with RS that won't hurt anything since the filaments are constantly heated) For HPF you start involving capacitors which change the behavior. Again there is the "designed for" range of lamps. Within that, a shorter lamp (less voltage drop) is the rated current, a longer lamp (higher voltage drop) is still the rated current (again max current being as an example 430ma). If you go with too short of a lamp (say a F20 on a F40/F30 ballast (go down too short and there's a point where even this 'constant current' design can no longer take it)), its less voltage drop than spec, but current is still the rated (or close to it). No overdrive of lamp or ballast, but this may put a bit more stress on the capacitor (the ballast will actually run cooler). Now if you go with too long of a lamp, the voltage drop is more than spec, but its still going to attempt to run the current at spec - so you're overdriving the ballast, and it can overheat. Note on the above: this if for modern HPF RS only, the vintage HPF are different and will only work correctly with their "designed for" lamp - this is why F34's kill vintage ballasts! Putting an unknown lamp on will basically have unknown results - the ballast will "see" a fluorescent lamp of some length which may or may not be within its "designed for" specs. Hopefully that all makes some sense .LOL. Its complex stuff, and I'm not going to pretend to understand exactly how it all works - especially once you start involving capacitors. |
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xmaslightguy
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| While a F40 HPF ballast functions to some degree as a 'constant current' source,
Some T8 electronic ballasts are an example of a true 'constant current' source: those ones that'll run a wide range of lamps like anything from a F17T8 up to a F40T8. The current for all those lamps will remain the same (I think its 320ma), but the voltage across the lamp will be different. (and like a F40 HPF, if you go too long of a lamp, it'll still attempt to drive it at the correct current...which overdrives the ballast since its delivering a voltage higher than it was designed for (or you can think of it as same current, higher voltage, which also results in higher wattage))
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