I realize now that this is a for-profit endeavor so marketing slant means more than real data, but here is some real data for you. The source is this article by the The American Academy of Dermatology References for the data in these quotes is listed in the original article:

• "Using indoor tanning beds before age 35 can increase your risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, by 59 percent; the risk increases with each use."
• The United States Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization's International Agency of Research on Cancer panel have declared ultraviolet radiation from the sun and artificial sources, such as tanning beds and sun lamps, to be a known carcinogen (cancer-causing substance).
• Evidence from multiple studies has shown that exposure to UV radiation from indoor tanning devices is associated with an increased risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, including squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma
• Researchers estimate that indoor tanning may cause upwards of 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the U.S. each year.

If you want to use it yourself, then more power to you. But please don't spread lies to gullible people in exchange for profit. I'm off-topic so I won't post in this thread anymore.

 

Getting back to the subject. Can someone explain in plan language what components are used in an electronic ballast and what is their function?

 

Nope, it is deadly.
A dermatologist (a skin specialist doctor) says, "One study observing 63 women diagnosed with melanoma before age 30 found that 61 of them (97 percent) had used tanning beds. Just one visit to the tanning salon significantly increases your chances of a cancer that can kill you. There’s nothing safe about that."

 

Getting back to the subject. Can someone explain in plan language what components are used in an electronic ballast and what is their function?

A fluorescent tube is nothing like a filament lamp, but it does use a couple of filament as part of the process of getting started.

The fluorescent tube is actually an extremely dangerous UV light source. It depends on the a mercury vapor to initiate an arc inside the tube. To do this a couple of small filaments are first heated up to vaporize the small amount of liquid mercury in the tube. Once that happens, the current is cut off from the filaments, and the main supply causes an arc through the tube, the UV-C light produce by this arc fluoresces the powder on the tube, producing light in various wavelengths depending on its composition.

The traditional ballast is a large inductor, a coil of wire on an iron core, hence the weight. It serves the purpose of initiating the arc, then limiting the current so the tube doesn't burn up. The starter is a bimetallic delay switch that first sends the current though the filaments to get the mercury into vapor, then shuts off, causing the coil to discharge and initiate the arc. The coil stays in line for current limiting.

An electronic ballast must do all these things, but it can also provide a much higher frequency AC, eliminating visible 60Hz flicker that makes fluorescent lighting unpleasant. It is designed to do all these functions more efficiently, and is fairly complex internally, so you just buy them built up from specialist manufacturers.

 

Can we get back to the subject of the thread title?

Can someone explain to me in simple language what the components of a electronic ballast are and what is their function please?

 

Can we get back to the subject of the thread title?

Can someone explain to me in simple language what the components of a electronic ballast are and what is their function please?

Did you not see my reply, above?

 

Did you not see my reply, above?

Sorry Yaakov. No I did not see it. I was looking at an earlier version of the thread and could not see my last post either. I hard refreshed (or thought I did) and still could not see my post so assumed I had not clicked "Post Reply". As you can see I'm not very smart.

Excellent explanation Yaakov. I will study it.

I'm reading this at the moment: https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/PDF/PRINT/SREB2.pdf

 

What does a lamp starter do?

 

. Once that happens, the current is cut off from the filaments, and the main supply causes an arc through the tube, the UV-A light produce by this arc fluoresces the powder on the tube, producing light in various wavelengths depending on its composition.

Small typo -- I think you mean UVC.

 

Small typo -- I think you mean UVC.

I do. Thanks. Will edit.

 

What does a lamp starter do?

It switches the current between the filaments, which vaporize the mercury, and the ballast, which strikes the arc and limits current.

 

The starter is in series with the filaments, after the start period the contacts open and the choke is across the tube only.
WAY back when this type of fitting came out, I recall one factory where on very cold mornings, the maintenance guy would have to walk under each bank of florescent with blow lamp to heat up the tubes as the starter did not cut it.
I get the same in my garage when it is 30c below.
Max.

 

I realize now that this is a for-profit endeavor so marketing slant means more than real data, but here is some real data for you. The source is this article by the The American Academy of Dermatology References for the data in these quotes is listed in the original article:

• "Using indoor tanning beds before age 35 can increase your risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, by 59 percent; the risk increases with each use."
• The United States Department of Health and Human Services and the World Health Organization's International Agency of Research on Cancer panel have declared ultraviolet radiation from the sun and artificial sources, such as tanning beds and sun lamps, to be a known carcinogen (cancer-causing substance).
• Evidence from multiple studies has shown that exposure to UV radiation from indoor tanning devices is associated with an increased risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, including squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma
• Researchers estimate that indoor tanning may cause upwards of 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the U.S. each year.

If you want to use it yourself, then more power to you. But please don't spread lies to gullible people in exchange for profit. I'm off-topic so I won't post in this thread anymore.

* Cancer doctor says use a sunbed regularly:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1127175/Top-cancer-doctor-says-SHOULD-sunbed-session.html

* I go to a tanning salon once a week and have been doing so for the past 10 years. I'm 68 and in perfect health with the blood pressure of a very healthy 20 year old. I do not take any medication apart from saw palmetto which I would recommend to any male of my age.

 

* Cancer doctor says use a sunbed regularly:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1127175/Top-cancer-doctor-says-SHOULD-sunbed-session.html

* I go to a tanning salon once a week and have been doing so for the past 10 years. I'm 68 and in perfect health with the blood pressure of a very healthy 20 year old. I do not take any medication apart from saw palmetto which I would recommend to any male of my age.

Who is derailing the thread now?

 

I take a vitamin D tablet every day and use sun block. I also smartly avoid using a tanning salon.

 

An electronic ballast is different, at least some of them are very different in that they first rectify the AC lime voltage to supply DC to a higher frequency power oscillator that provides a quite high voltage between the ends of the tube, using the filaments simply as electrodes. The voltage is high enough to cause the gas in the tube to immediately ionize and start conducting current and emitting light. When the gas starts conduction the voltage between the ends drops to about 60 volts. The increased load power causes the feedback in the oscillator to be reduced and so there is not so much power dissipated in the winding resistance of the transformer.

 

Personally it seems scary that some one that doesn't know what a ballast does or is, is going to make something to sell to the public, something that needs ballasts.

 

"Personally it seems scary that":
1) He is going to make them and sell them electrically uncertified to be safe.
2) Medically to be unsafe.

This thread should be removed to prevent a Student or Noob from seeing it.

 

Hello,

A balast and a starter are a must for fluorescent tubes.
Have a good read of the following page for the basics:
http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/flamp.htm

Bertus

 

"Personally it seems scary that":
1) He is going to make them and sell them electrically uncertified to be safe.
2) Medically to be unsafe.

This thread should be removed to prevent a Student or Noob from seeing it.

I have found an expert in the industry to act as a consultant so this thread can be removed if you like.