Fluorescent light

Need a new Fluorescent light fitting for the kitchen as the old one has given up, what are the pros and cons between a standard ballast and a high frequency one, looking to get one from Wickes.

Barry

Reply to
Corporal Jones
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Corporal Jones a écrit :

HF version...

Faster full light output. Much more efficient. No 100Hz flicker. Less waste heat generated. Tubes last longer and don't blacken at the ends.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

A decent HF unit is more efficient and will also prolong useful tube life. Gives reliable starting too regardless of temperature. And less obvious flicker if you are susceptible to such things. Some types can be easily dimmed too.

Can't really think of any cons, apart from possibly price.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Dave Plowman (News) a écrit :

You can buy electronic ballasts for not a lot, to convert a normal switch start system to electronic.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

The only pros with iron lump ballasts are reliability/longevity & initial price.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

  • power factor close to unity;
  • tend to come without tube, rather than with el-cheapo 3500K halophosphate.

Switch start are almost obsolete now, stock being sold off.

HF batten fittings have become very cheap, e.g.

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Choose a triphosphor tube, colour 835 or 840, according to taste...

Reply to
Andy Wade

Try led tubes, instant start, similar output, cheaper to run, may last longer, Aldi sold some a while back

Reply to
F Murtz

Beware of significant safety concerns with these:

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(Page 10)

Reply to
Andy Wade

But iron lump ballasts usually come with a starter. Which may not be that reliable.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Hmm. Beauty with tri-phosphor tubes is they can be had in a variety of colour temperatures which also have a decent spectrum. Although you may well have to go to a specialist to find them. LED tends not to have the same choice.

As regards life, I have tri-phosphor tubes under my kitchen cabinets which are a good match to the halogen used elsewhere. And they are getting on for 20 years old. With dimming electronic ballasts.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Read that with interest - having just replaced six conventional 5ft fluorescent T8's in our shop with LED ones. Ours came with replacement 'starters' - which simply plugged in. Don't quite see what the report is talking about with the access to live pins during fitting. Even if the pins on the 'far' end of the tube were live during fitting, I'd have thought you'd need to be particularly daft to grab them..?

The tubes we fitted were warm whites - two of the people who work in the shop suffer from lupus and migraines, and replacing these six bulbs with warm-white leds, and replacing the three 'bright white' led GU10s that point at the till area with warm-white leds has had a beneficial effect for the staff concerned.

The 'fluorescent' tubes subjectively give at least as much illumination as the ones that they replaced.

Adrian

Reply to
Adrian Brentnall

Do these tubes have diffusers? We were going to have LED GU10s in our bathroom until I saw some at a friend's house. Lying in the bath and looking up at very bright point sources of light suddenly seemed less attractive. Of course, in a shop one is less likely to be looking up at them, possibly. We did put such GU10s in the kitchen, but with diffusers.

Reply to
Tim Streater

There is more info here

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Reply to
ARW

Filament striplights suffer the same issue, but with 240v not 130 touchable. Indeed all the old fashioned lamp sockets are bare & live. But aren't delivering any significant problems in practice.

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

These particular units look to all intents & purposes like a standard fluorescent tube - as they have an integrated diffuser, and appear to be evenly lit along the whole length of the tube.

They came from an Irish supplier

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- but, as you'd expect, were manufactured in China.

The 'top' side of the tube is an ali extrusion, which looks like a heatsink. The underside is an opal plastic. I asked about reliability / life and was told that they're guaranteed for 2 years, but the supplier had no returns in the last 4 years.

Hope this helps Adrian

Reply to
Adrian Brentnall

Less flicker with the hf, but more radio interference probably. Brian

Reply to
Brian-Gaff

Are you sure about that last part? I certainly get tubes with black ends in an electronic one. Brian

Reply to
Brian-Gaff

So can one retrofit the more efficient electronics to old, say Thorne fittings? Brian

Reply to
Brian-Gaff

Don't think switch start ballasts or halophosphate tubes can be made or imported into the EU now. Still seem to be stocks of switch start ballasts around, although the halophosphate tubes pretty much all vanished a couple of years ago.

Just watch out that the ballast is a well known make. Otherwise, IME it won't last as long as the first tube.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Given that even electronic ballasts are driven by 50Hz mains, why would they produce less flicker?

There is no energy storage as such in electronic ballasts.

Reply to
Fredxxx

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