Author Topic: How to maintain a preheat fluorescent fixture  (Read 2469 times)
WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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Worldwide HIDCollectorUSA
How to maintain a preheat fluorescent fixture « on: October 28, 2020, 12:33:59 AM » Author: WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
Here is a video that explains how to maintain preheat fluorescent fixtures if you have them:

https://youtu.be/K3wu2r1RWpA
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AngryHorse
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Rich


Re: How to maintain a preheat fluorescent fixture « Reply #1 on: October 28, 2020, 04:51:13 PM » Author: AngryHorse
There’s one small thing wrong with this, ideally BOTH tube and starter have to be changed together, putting a new starter on an EOL tube will cause the other to fail, or new tube on an old starter!
From a domestic stand point this video is quite helpful, from an industrial maintenance point of view this is never the case!
I’ve pulled all sorts of wrong starters out of battens where a previous maintenance guy hadn’t quite known what they were doing, and some ‘dead’ battens I’ve come across at work have been loose connections either at the choke or usually more so at the lamp holders
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Medved
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Re: How to maintain a preheat fluorescent fixture « Reply #2 on: October 29, 2020, 12:48:21 PM » Author: Medved
Even from domestic standpoint it is a bad idea to replace just the starter and not the lamp. Because it is always the lamp, what is failing first, even when it initially may not appear that way. What happens is the lamp electrodes get depleted, first consequence is prolonged reignition delay, causing the starter to constantly glow and heat up. Initially just not enough to close its contacts, but still enough to clean out its electrodes so making its component (the EME suppression capacitor, the plastic case,...) degrade and the threshold voltage to go down. Only then the heat starts to be enough for the contacts to close, so start the EOL flashing.
The fresh starter may still have its trigger voltage a bit higher, so it will again just glow and warm up not enough to close. But still degrade as well, so start flashing again very soon, so ruining a new starter.

Now if you replace just the lamp (and not the starter), the old starter, being exposed for quite a lot of overheating by the failing lamp, developed shifts in characteristics due to material fatigue, so wont preheat the new lamp properly, wearing it faster than a fresh starter would, leading to premature lamp failure.

The thermal cutout starters benefit from the fact the cut out device disconnects them immediately once they start to heat up, so wont let them to be exposed to the heat for that long time, so allow them to operate well over multiple lamps (usual rating is 3 lamps). The thing is, the starter starts to suffer practically only once the lamp starts failing. Normally the starter get shot by the first failing lamp, with the cutout makes it survive two lamp failures, so operate the thrid lamp over its life.
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Ash
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Re: How to maintain a preheat fluorescent fixture « Reply #3 on: October 29, 2020, 09:05:08 PM » Author: Ash
Cant say this is always the case. Some old starters like early 80s Prusman just keep going, they only become slow to close after 10..20 years. But once they close they give a single long preheat and ignition, so don't do anything that's bad to the new tube
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Medved
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Re: How to maintain a preheat fluorescent fixture « Reply #4 on: October 30, 2020, 03:53:47 AM » Author: Medved
It may be, but it is a gamble. Given the starters cost fraction of what the new lamp cost, it does not make much sense to risk the starter failing and taking the lamp with it prematurely. And of course, it does not make sense to throw new good starters onto a bad tube either.
If you want to use stsrter for longer, just take the one which is rated for that (the cutout or electronic types).
Plus 10..20 years is a normal expected life of a reasonable quality fluorescent lamp in home use, so will be the life of the starter even when replaced with each tube...
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