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Registered Member #1389
Joined: Thu Mar 13 2008, 12:50AM
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 346
I recently helped my dad dismantle some very old florescent light fixtures at a restaurant he was working at, and since the owner was getting rid of them, I kept the ballasts. I've heard that they give out the high voltage needed to start an arc through the bulb, but I don't have any clue how they work. Now that I have them, is there any use to these things at all, or should I just get rid of them?
Registered Member #162
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3141
The ballasts are simply inductors. When the lamp is on the ballast impedance (2.pi.F.L) limits the current through the lamp. To start the lamp the 'starter' is initially a closed bi-metalic switch that opens due to the current heating the contacts, this produces a flyback/kickback voltage spike that starts the lamp. Neon gas in the starter allows just enough current to flow to keep the contacts open.
So what you have are several inductors. Now your challenge is to find an exciting use for them. (or sell them for the scrap value)
Registered Member #89
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 02:40PM
Location: Zadar, Croatia
Posts: 3145
What vasil used seem to be mercury arc lamp chokes, not the fluorescent lamp ballasts.
No way you could ballast MOT primaries with fluorescent lamp ballasts, as they are very high inductance and even the largest don't support more than like 200mA. Tens of them in parallel would be needed!
One would have better luck ballasting the secondary side with some of them in series to get enough voltage rating.
I see them most useful as charging reactors in DC resonant charging system, as they have high inductance and can stand several kilovolts. Still a number of them in series would be required to get to usual >20kV voltages commonly used, I think.
Registered Member #1389
Joined: Thu Mar 13 2008, 12:50AM
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 346
Should I take the three I have out of their cases and oil and put them in a new bath then? It seems there is a lot of weight in metal case that I can lose.
Registered Member #30
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706
If they have oil inside, they're not ballasts. Every ballast I've ever seen was just an iron core with some coils of wire. They're probably power factor correction capacitors, and if they really are "very old", then you might want to watch out for PCB oil. If you post some pics, that might help.
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Florescent Light Ballast
