electromic starters - flourescent fittings

[burntwire]

Can anyone tell me the advantages of using an electronic starter for a flourescent fitting ? and how much energy/money can it save over conventional starters ? - I know it starts immediately so how much power does this save ? ive always been told it takes 1 hours running cost to start a flourescent fitting, Is this true ?

 

[RF Lighting]

They get the lamps lit quicker, which is more of a convenience thing really (not having to wait while a switch starter flaickers)

They also prolong lamp life.

The starting current of a fluorescent is not hat great, and only lasts for a breif moment.

AFAIK they do not save energy. You would need high frequency control gear to acheive this.

 

[burntwire]

Thanks RF, Are there any websites etc availiable that i can use to compare energy usage eg. if a factory uses 25 normal flous and i replace the with 25 high freguency flous taking into consideration the cost of the fittings how long would it take to redeem the cost and start saving ?

 

[ericmark]

A few years ago I needed to temp light a tunnel. We decided on 110 volt florescent fittings at 60 watts each so approx 1 amp for two fitting as should get 32 in 16 amp supply so to give some lee way used 25 when it tripped measured current 20 amp. So then I started to experiment inside the fitting was a auto transformer marked 110 - 0 - 127 feeding on 127 tapping reduced current from 0.8 to 0.6 amp changed all tapping and last 3 would not light so changed last 5 to 110 volt tapping. And I was then just under the 16 amp.
The result was I then started to note voltage and current draw and found a very small increase in voltage can increase current draw by quite a substantial amount. Where with HF units the voltage makes very little difference. So how much power is saved moving from standard to HF all depends on voltage and volt drop etc. So you will not find any reliable tables.
Also the tubes also have different coating which also effect output per watt.
The main tangible benefits are the tubes last longer, there is no or little stroboscopic effect, they will continue to work with large volt drop, can be adapted to include emergency lighting. And do use less power.
Eric