Energy Saving Device Mystery ??? Any thoughts &/or Suggestions?

Thread Starter

steward

Joined Jan 21, 2011
53
On the 44mm x 19mm x 30mm black “epoxied" component ... it is stamped “4.0 plus sign 10% minus sign 5% 350 VAC”. Below is a picture showing the very limited stamped info. I tried to inquiry via email TSC group but it bounces back. The device was put within a bunch of our T12 eight foot double bulb fluorescent fixtures back in 1985 with the promise of energy savings. In hindsight I would have verified if the component actually saved energy via a clamp on multimeter but I assumed that the now gone seller-installer at the time was telling us the truth. Anybody on the forum care to venture how the component saves energy & since the component outwardly appears to be in good shape ... is there a possibility of reusing the device (that was wired in series with one of the tombstone ends) with the voltage for something else? They look perfectly good so I am not crazy about just throwing them out in the trash. I do have a Fluke 325 & 771 that I could possibly use to test what goes on ... if I understood electronic circuits enough.

Since we now replaced the fixtures with LED fixtures & since I have been doing some research on dimmers & their accompanying energy savings ... I am thinking the epoxied in device could be used as a energy saving dimmer or some other place in some kind of an electronic project. It could be somewhat obsolete for all purposes ... but that is why I am hoping some of you have some understanding how a device like that could have functioned to actually save energy.

On the picture & in for real ... it appears to be some type of diode or resistor across the only two terminal leads that like I said was wired in series with one of the four single pin fluorescent tombstone ends. Thanks in advance.

 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
470k 1/4 watt resistor +/- 10% guaranteed amount of resistance with a 4 uf capacitor rated at +10% to - 5% at 350 Volts.
Somebody else will know what TSC means.

These are not, "energy savers" all by themselves. They are components that can be arranged to save energy in another device. They are perfectly good components. How you use them is limited only by your education and your imagination.
 

Thread Starter

steward

Joined Jan 21, 2011
53
Thanks for the replies! I am thinking other than the resister between the leads this would be an equivalent. http://www.onlinecomponents.com/nte...24F9721-CE78-4DF8-9174-2B009483EEDFcsF2jgQo4O

The next question is how in the world can it save significant energy ... since the only other components in conjunction with it was the 4 end sockets (tombstones) & the magnetic ballast. There was a simple plastic case over the pertinent part so just 2 leads came out of it. The reason why I mentioned dimming in my original post is because the seller - installer back in 1985 said to expect slightly less lumens. At that time I did not have a light meter so I failed to verify that also. Is this kind of component usually just installed more in parallel to the VAC voltage? I have always been kind of psyched out when testing fluorescent lights ever since I was trying to check to make sure there was not a dead short between 110vac neutral & the hot 110vac & somehow the bulbs &/or the magnetic ballast made it look like on my multimeter too close to zero ohms compared to motors & solenoids etc. I guess the ballast is a special type of super high voltage transformer for fluorescents that also went over my head. Most of my understanding is towards 24vac transformsrs which would be step down not step ups. Another thing that always psyched me was when I read that with fluorescents ... the neutral can actually be MORE dangerous than the hot in the case of 110vac.
 
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