TURBiO fast fluorescent starter

[Richard Russell]

I'm trying to find a UK source for the TURBiO fast fluorescent starter:

its 0.4 second preheat time it's the fastest electronic starter I know of, but I've failed to find a UK distributor (or one that will happily deliver to the UK).

Richard.

[Skipweasel]

Presumably you have to have tubes that are capable of coming up to the right temperature in that time?

[Richard Russell]

The list of suitable lamp types is given on the page to which I linked (e.g. 4-65W linear T5/T8/T12); there is no suggestion that they are anything other than standard tubes. The only specific limitation mentioned is that it is "only suitable for inductive circuits without capacitors for serial compensation".

It's possible that the tube lifetime is slightly reduced compared with using a slower electronic starter (which they also make), but hopefully it will still be greater than with a conventional starter.

The manufacturer's site is here:

[Skipweasel]

Did you read the bit about the guarantee not being valid if it's not used daily?

[Tabby]

preheat, so you'll get flashing during start, like a non-electronic starter.

If you want quick starting, you need an electronic ballast, which will operate the tube in a more sophisticated manner than a lump of iron ballast plus a plug-in starter.

NT

[Alan]

In message , Richard Russell wrote

the bottom of the page) that a UK distributor for the same, or equivalent, may be

[Alan]

In message , Alan wrote

0.3seconds + (0.5 seconds)

[Andrew Gabriel]

Pulsestarter is a better known make here. EFS300 is 0.3s starting, EFS600 is around 2 seconds starting.

[Andrew Gabriel]

These starters don't require any preheat time to strike the tube - they simply restrike every half mains cycle with a high voltage pulse until the arc stablises, but other than the noise you get from the ballast during this phase, you won't notice - it just looks like the tube is on. The preheat time is purely to extend tube life. The repeating strike time is usually limited to about a seccond, so it won't continue trying to start a dead tube.

Instant start electronic ballasts seem to have become impossible to find over last 5 years. I don't know why. Even buying same model number ones I used to, they are no longer instant start.

[Richard Russell]

Thanks for that, and for the other helpful responses. I haven't managed to track down the TURBiO but this seems very similar:

quotes 0.3 seconds plus a further 0.6 seconds if the tube doesn't strike immediately. It's also considerably cheaper than the TURBiO (judging by what it costs in Germany).

Richard.

[Tabby]

Sounds like the first ones I had years ago - the resulting noise used to scare people.

NT