Greetings,

I come to this forum because recently I set my mind to build a new UV installation for photolitography and for that purpose I acquired 5 UV fluorescent lamps from Velleman, rated at 4W each.
Now my experience with alternative current installations is quite limited, but after some internet searches I figured I need an electronic ballast. I acquired one that's rated for 18W, which (according to my logic) would run my lamps at 3W each, not taking into account small differences in electrical impedance.

Now the problem I have is that after switching on my contraption, only one of the lamps turns on while the other 4 do nothing. Is there any (cheap) way I could get past this problem?

I should also say that I also have 2 starters at my disposal rated for 4-22W.

Thanks in advance!

 

How do your have your bulbs wired? I have never heard of one ballast running five bulbs. If you are trying some form of series or parallel connections it simply won't work. You'll need the appropriate ballasts for multiple bulbs.

Normally when you first turn on a fluorescent light power goes in and out of the pins on both ends and after then ends warm up the connection is broken so that there is power only going to one pin on each end which is what lights up the whole bulb. There is no way to make it work with multiple bulbs.

 

The purpose of the ballast for florescent lamps is to first establish conduction, usually with a high voltage, and then to limit current after conduction starts.
I have never seen an instance of that type of lamps in series that used a ballast device. I HAVE destroyed a set of UV lamps by applying power when the ballast was still at a very cold (20F) temperature.
I have purchased and installed a ballast for up to four tubes, 34 watts rated each. That ballast required both pins at a tube end tied to each other, so each tube was independent.