Electronic ballast for Garage lighting

[playford]

Hi,

I've just bought some of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400516385781

and will be using them to power some 3 ft tubes. I was wondering what gauge of wire I should use and whether to wire them in series.

I have some 18 guage solid core, would that be ok or too small?

Cheers
Mark

 

[333rocky333]

what makes you think 3ft tubes will work with those.
For not much more you could have brought a complete fitting, there for display lights proberly 2ft and 4ft

 

[pte440]

looking at that, it says 20w 40w
a 3ft lamp will be 30w which sits in the middle, it would work, but for how long....
would be best to use either a 2ft 18w or 4ft 36w tube

 

[333rocky333]

looking at that, it says 20w 40w

Think youl find theres two sizes using the same label type and depending on which you buy, either the 20 or 40 box is highlighted

 

[pte440]

yes Rocky you are right... i didn't think of that

Peter

 

[ericmark]

To be frank it's that long ago that I worked with wire gauges I have not a clue what 18 is think you need to express in cross sectional area 0.82mm² is rather an odd size I think just within the minimum size you can use.

As to series or parallel these are for a single tube so it does not really apply supplies always in parallel only the output is some times connected in series but clearly needs to be double tube version.

Clearly a 20W unit feed 20W tube and 40W unit feed 40W tube although a 2 ft tube was 20W or 40W and a 4 ft tube was 40W today finding tubes of that size is not common a 3 ft tube is 30W with 2 ft being 18W and 4 ft being 36W and 5 ft being 58W so finding 20W or 40W tubes is not going to be easy. In the main today Ultra Violet tubes only are rated 20W or 40W there will be some specials but tend to be expensive.

 

[playford]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I thought with the ballast a 40w could run the 30 w tube as the tube will only pull a maximum of 30w.

The reason I went for these is my garage gets both very cold and hot depending on the time of year and these are rated for -30 to +40.

I'm going to run 3 rows of 3 so was trying to think of the best way to wire them up. The power leads don't have colour on them only one side says in on the case.

Cheers
Mark

 

[pte440]

both of the red wires will be the input, if there are no other markings then i does not really matter which one you use for L or N

As mentioned before you can get a complete HF light fitting from TLC for about £12

Let us know how you get on....

 

[mfarrow]

Are you on SWG or AWG? IIRC AWG will give you a smaller wire for the same gauge number.

18 SWG seems pretty thick, like solder wire thick. I admit to using bell wire in the lamps in my garage

 

[333rocky333]

I thought with the ballast a 40w could run the 30 w tube as the tube will only pull a maximum of 30w.

Sometimes they can do a range of lamps and if so would be stated on them, but in theory most tend to do just one wattage.
They seem to be dubious imported stuff so i have my doubts, i think the main reason hes sold so many is, as eric says they run U/V lamps which are popular for various reasons and non standard wattages (20 and 40)

The reason I went for these is my garage gets both very cold and hot depending on the time of year and these are rated for -30 to +40.

Most uk supplied H/F fittings would be similar temp range.

I'm going to run 3 rows of 3 so was trying to think of the best way to wire them up. The power leads don't have colour on them only one side says in on the case.

Supply leads to H/F ballasts can usually be L and N any way round, hence why there not coloured.

How will you protect the surface that you fit the "terry clips" too from the heat of the lamps

 

[bernardgreen]

I thought with the ballast a 40w could run the 30 w tube as the tube will only pull a maximum of 30w.

Once struck the tube will "pull" as much current as it can. It is in fact a near dead short.

The ballast controls how much current passes through the tube, not the tube.