Re: How do you wire flourescent light blub to a ballast? And type of ballast do I get?

In article <1164577464.732479.292240@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
mercer7 wrote:

Okay so in english, the "preheat" circuit is best cause the voltage of
the ballast is more than the volt required for the bulb?

So a "preheat" circuit solves this problem?

I understand the diagram:

Power Switch +-----------+
Line 1 (H) o------/ ---------| Ballast |-----------+
+-----------+ |
|
.--------------------------. |
Line 2 (N) o---------|- Fluorescent -|----+
| ) Tube ( |
+---|- (bipin) -|----+
| '--------------------------' |
| |
| +-------------+ |
| | Starter | |
+----------| or starting |----------+
| switch |
+-------------+


But how would the diagram look if I had 4 bulbs? Is the "preheat"
circuit really necesarry? Can I do a simple parallel?

You need 4 ballasts and 4 starters. Make 4 copies of the above circuit.
Connect all Line1 points together and all Line2 points together.


From what I saw at home depot they have one rated for 4 bulbs, 17
watts.

Those bulbs are higher voltage lower current ones. The
multi-bulb 17-watt-per-bulb ballast is usually an instant start ballast.
15 watt bulbs will be significantly underpowered, more so from these multi
bulb electronic ballasts for 17 and 32 watt ones usually slightly
underpowering those when full bulb count is used.
Since the 15-watters were probably not designed for "instant start",
they can easily suffer excessive wear from each start.

Can I setup the 4 ballasts in parallel, and the 4 bulbs in parallel for
each ballast?

Do not connect ballasts together, and especially do not put fluorescent
bulbs in parallel with each other. If fluorescent bulbs are in parallel
with each other, all of the current will flow through just one bulb.

- Don Klipstein (don@xxxxxxxxx)
.

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