What are the three types of ballast?
Fluorescent ballasts use three different types of starting technologies: rapid, instant, and programmed.
What do the letters mean on ballast?
The most common types are T12, T8, and T5. The T stands for tubular and the number indicates the diameter in 1/8 of an inch. Lamp diameter is determined by ballast type. A fixture with a T12 ballast must use a T12 bulb. A fixture with a T8 ballast must use a T8 bulb, etc.
What is the main function of a ballast?
In a fluorescent lighting system, the ballast regulates the current to the lamps and provides sufficient voltage to start the lamps. Without a ballast to limit its current, a fluorescent lamp connected directly to a high voltage power source would rapidly and uncontrollably increase its current draw.
What are the two types of ballast used in fluorescent lighting?
THE PRODUCT:
There are two basic types of fluorescent ballasts: magnetic (low frequency) and electronic (high frequency). Most fluorescent ballasts are now electronic, which are more efficient than magnetic ballasts.
What is ballast and its types?
Ballast is a granular material which is placed and packed below and around the railway sleepers. Different types of ballast materials used are broken stone, sand, gravel, moorum, brickbats etc.
What is a Class P type ballast?
Class P: A ballast for a fluorescent lamp which meets the requirements of the Underwriters’ Laboratories, Inc.; includes an automatic resetting thermal protector to remove the ballast from the circuit if its temperature exceeds a specified value. 4. Same as constant-wattage ballast.
How do I know what type of ballast I have?
Simply turn the light on, then take a photo of the fixture using your smartphone or digital camera. If there are no dark bands on the resulting image, you have an electronic ballast that is likely to work with direct drop-in LED tubes (with caveats: see the next section below).
How do I know which ballast to use?
When purchasing a ballast, you’ll need to read the type of lamps it’s designed for, how many lamps it operates, and the voltage the lamps will run on. Choosing the right ballast for a lamp will optimize the light output and life of the bulb.
How do you check a ballast?
To measure it, set your digital multimeter to around a thousand ohms resistance setting. Connect the black leads to the white ground wire on your ballast. Afterward, test every other wire with the red lead. When you do this test, a good ballast will return an “open-loop” or max resistance.
How does a ballast limit current?
The ballast adds positive impedance (AC resistance) to the circuit to counteract the negative resistance of the tube, limiting the current.
What are the four basic types of fluorescent ballasts?
Basic Basic Ballast Information for 4 Ft.
Ballasts for four-foot fluorescent lamps are available in the following three generic categories: Magnetic — energy efficient (core-coil capacitor), Electronic – solid state high frequency, Hybrid — magnetic with electronic cathode cutout.
What is the size of ballast?
The ballast shoulder always should be at least 150 mm (5.9 inches) wide, and may be as wide as 450 mm (17.7 inches). The shape of the ballast is also important.
How do you match a ballast?
How To Choose A Ballast – YouTube
What can I do with an old ballast?
According to EPA Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations, the material must be incinerated. The entire lighting fixture does not need special handling and disposal as long as the ballast (electrical box) is not leaking. The non-leaking ballasts can be removed and recycled or disposed of properly.
Can you use a higher wattage ballast?
Using a higher wattage ballast on the lower wattage bulb is overdriving by definition It has to do with how the ballasts work. They do not produce output according to what bulb is attached. Ballast output is the same, no matter the bulb.
What is normal ballast factor?
A ballast factor is a number, typically between 0.70 and 1.2, that tells you how much light a lamp will emit with that ballast.
How can you tell if a ballast is bad?
If your fluorescent lighting is displaying any of the signs below, it could be a symptom of a bad ballast:
- Flickering.
- Buzzing.
- Delayed start.
- Low output.
- Inconsistent lighting levels.
- Switch to an electronic ballast, keep lamp.
- Switch to an electronic ballast, switch to a T8 fluorescent.
What causes a ballast to fail?
Ballast failure is often caused by the surrounding environment—mainly heat and moisture. When it’s too hot or too cold, a ballast can burn or fail to start your lamps. Heat, along with continuous condensation inside an electronic ballast, can cause corrosion over time.
Does a ballast convert AC to DC?
Working Principle of an Electronic Ballast
Electronic ballast takes supply at 50 – 60 Hz. It first converts AC voltage into DC voltage. After that, filtration of this DC voltage is done by using a capacitor configuration.
Is a ballast an inductive load?
A familiar and widely used example is the inductive ballast used in fluorescent lamps to limit the current through the tube, which would otherwise rise to a destructive level due to the negative differential resistance of the tube’s voltage-current characteristic. Ballasts vary greatly in complexity.
What’s the difference between t8 and T12 ballast?
The main difference between T8 and T12 tubes is the tube’s diameter. T12 tubes are 1.5″ in diameter while T8s are just one inch. All other things—socket sizes, lengths, distance between pins—are the same. T8 LED tubes won’t fall out if you try to install them in a T12 fixture—they’ll fit just fine.
How is ballast measured?
In the existing procedure, ballast stack is measured generally with 12-16 measurements of 4 – lengths, 4 – breadths and balance depths. In projects the stacks are generally of large quantity.
What is maximum ballast size?
Detailed Solution. For points & crossing, the maximum of nominal size of the ballast is 25 mm.
How do I know what type of ballast I need?