Fluorescent lights

[ericmark]

Stolen street lights from Blackpool illuminations
As the lamps warm up they become more stable but what you describe is common for induction start.

Question is does the money required to swap to HF ballast really make sense? HF ballast use less power make tubes last longer and interfere with ham radio but cost more to buy.

So likely save 10W per lamp and cost £20 each so the light has to be on a long time to save money. Is the flashing worth spending out £100 to fix. Only you know the answer.

 

[ekmdgrf]

The lights are LAP RM105D, which describe themselves as being HF ballast. They don't flicker. What they do is fully extinguish. If one switches off the lights for a couple of minutes, they will restart but usually extinguish again after 30 seconds or so of operation.

 

[winston1]

HF ballast use less power make tubes last longer and interfere with ham radio but cost more to buy.

Nothing special about ham radio which uses a tiny part of the RF spectrum. They can interfere with all MF and HF radio. I had one that interfered with long wave but the cure was simple, fitted a 10nF capacitor across its mains input terminals.

 

[Click-Sure]

Nobody else considered that it might be the fact that LAP is right down the bottom end of the spectrum as far as quality is concerned?

Who makes the HF Ballast in these units?

 

[ekmdgrf]

That thought crossed my mind too. I don't know about the ballast, I'll have to take a look.

 

[ekmdgrf]

Finally went and had a look at the ballast. It's a Kengo KEB-58H. 58W.

 

[DaftPunk]

Did all the lights develop this fault at the same time or did they develop the fault one at at time?

 

[ekmdgrf]

I think there was one light that did it first, then all the rest started at the same time.

 

[DaftPunk]

Was the first light to display this behaviour the furthest one from the mains supply?

 

[ekmdgrf]

There's two switches, one to 1 > 3 > 5 and the other to 2 > 4. The first light to play up was 3. Often lights 2 and 3 go out. Light five proves most reliable.