Osram 18W NA LPS Warming Up on a Electronic Ballast
(Replaces missing file) From top left to bottom right: a sequence of pictures showing the warmup stage of a Osram 18W NA lamp. Ballast is a Advance F32T8 instant start with the blue leads paralleled.
just wana say ur over drivng this lamp by 190ma a 18W SOX runs at 60V at 350Ma parled F32 ballast is 540Ma (I wood sugest a 20W choke and a HPS ignitroe for 55V HPS lamps)
ok well I herd the US also have 2 wier ignighters for SON lamps and a 20W choke will work if u can get the lamp to strike (maby tri a 120V pulse starter)
What about a barbecue ignitor? would that work as a starter? I'm interesting in making a makeshift 18W LPS system in the event i have access to a LPS lamp and socket. I could convert a newer boring cobrahead like a cooper or something to LPS.
yea BBQ ignightor shode work (here most 18W LPS will start direct off 240V OCV) but even on 240V mains an S2 start wont work so theres no point in using one on 120V OCv tri FS12 some times they might work on 120V
Aright, I tried using the 20w preheat choke with a BBQ ignitor and it does not work...only made the lamp flash. I think I will stick this or my real 18w ballast.
Mike, a lot of people on LG suggested using electronic CFL gear of a similar wattage.
hmmm Intresting wen I ran a 18W sox lamp on 120V it lit up fine even tho it was under driven. I reely do sugest 1: a 2wier 55V son ignigter or 2: a 120V puls starter in parrlel with the lamp . (BTW the choke HAS to be a full power one cant be those GE ones etc) and I wood not use the guts from eny CFL unless u want tostey fride ballast/lamp. and like I sed tri and use a FS12 starter.
Besides the Fulham Workhorse 2 ballast, I also tried running my 18 watt Philips SOX-E on CFL electronics as well. First tried an 18 watt Greenlite that I dropped and broke the spiral fluorescent tube on and it lit but was underdriven (KillAWatt meter showed it was only operating at 13 watts) Next was a 25 watt Buffalo lite that I butchered up for the experiment but it seemed a bit overdriven on that one as it warmed up rather quickly and one end seemed brighter than usual. Haven't tried any others but I think a 20 or a 23 watt CFL should be a good match.
In both my cases, I had to "shunt" the pair of wires that normally feed the electrodes on either side of the fluorescent lamp together to operate the LPS
A FS-12 starter won't work, it needs a 240v to trigger it as it's designed for the FC32T9 circline. Pulse starter and 55v two-wire ignitor are next to impossible to find here. Like I said find a CFL ballast for those plug-in CFLs and run the LPS on that. A lot of people run them this way.
FS12 starters have a lower striking V then FS4 and iv see FS12s in use on a 120V set up and even FS4 dosent need 240V to triger if it did then they wodent work on a ballast that put out 200V ocv FS4 trigers at 190V FS12 I estermate about 150V. im just tring to help peepel finde a MAGNETIC ballast alterntive.and pulse starters well just grab some from the UK
Well, I have a FS-12 starter and it dosen't strike with my fixture. Really why do you think a starter that strikes on 150v would work on 120v .
Also I would really appreciate it if you start a topic in the forum about this instead of spamming my picture. And not to be rude but can you run your comments through a spell checker before posting your typos make your comment hard to follow. Most modern browsers should have a spell checker just right click your comment and select spell check.
@Joe-347V Bulbfreak know his P and Qs as he have a transformer to run 120 volts american lamps. and he can experment with things; well the FS-12 is right on the boarder to fire up on 12O volt OCV, I use the FS12 on my 20 watt preheat to give the blinkest start up. well 2 wire son (HPS) ignitor just provide inductive kick to start the sox lamp. same concept taking a 100 watt mercury ballast to run a 110 watt HO lamp that i expermented on. while back. so praise bulbfreak for this one.
Well, firstly a lot of people here have transformers to run lamps at different voltages so I don't see what so special about that. I myself have a 120 to 240v transformer to run European lamps and ballasts.
FS-12 won't fire at 120v in some circumstances so I don't think it's a really a good choice for it. If the inductive kick was strong enough I would recommend a FS-2 starter which triggers 100% of the time on 120v. Remember that on 240v the inductive kick is stronger than on 120v so LPS should start on a 240v ballast in fact I tried that myself using a imported 240v ballast and it works fine. The low voltage of 120v is the problem here.
This is not the same as running a 110W HO on a 100w merc for a couple reasons, one the currents for both lamps are similar so it makes sense for the HO to work. Two, a mercury ballast has a OCV of 200V or higher so the inductive kick is enough to start a 8' HO lamp.
Back to the topic, if Bulbfreak wants to he can make his own topic in the forum about running 18w LPS lamps but he didn't seem to want to. So I don't know why you have to come in here and defend him.
ok then exsplane to me how wen I tride an 18W sox lamp on 120V OCV using a 240V 18W choke thro my variac (IE the lamp was getting LESS current then normal about 100ma ) all I used was an S2 starter removed it after a few pings and it lit just fine. plus tri a full power choke and MANULY short out the choke that shode work. all im tring to do is help u and mike and u go and say im SPAMING boy that hurts my feelings this is watt I get for helping
Well, I apologize if I sounded a bit rude in my comments but there's a some advantages to posting them in the forum. One being that the forum posts are searchable whereas gallery comments are not. I made a new topic in the forum regarding running 18w LPS lamps.
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2) A 20w choke does not work with a LPS, also the 55V ignitors here need a special core with a 3rd tap.
3) These lamps were used when I got them so I usually experiment with them.
Mike, a lot of people on LG suggested using electronic CFL gear of a similar wattage.
In both my cases, I had to "shunt" the pair of wires that normally feed the electrodes on either side of the fluorescent lamp together to operate the LPS
Also I would really appreciate it if you start a topic in the forum about this instead of spamming my picture.
FS-12 won't fire at 120v in some circumstances so I don't think it's a really a good choice for it. If the inductive kick was strong enough I would recommend a FS-2 starter which triggers 100% of the time on 120v. Remember that on 240v the inductive kick is stronger than on 120v so LPS should start on a 240v ballast in fact I tried that myself using a imported 240v ballast and it works fine. The low voltage of 120v is the problem here.
This is not the same as running a 110W HO on a 100w merc for a couple reasons, one the currents for both lamps are similar so it makes sense for the HO to work. Two, a mercury ballast has a OCV of 200V or higher so the inductive kick is enough to start a 8' HO lamp.
Back to the topic, if Bulbfreak wants to he can make his own topic in the forum about running 18w LPS lamps but he didn't seem to want to. So I don't know why you have to come in here and defend him.