Hi,
I am producing a small, home tanning bed. It hangs on a door to save space. It has 10 lamps. With the help of a local laser cutting and folding firm after several prototypes I now have a really great chassis for it.
I took it to a harness manufacturer and they were really helpful. They said they would send me the design for the wiring and they also gave me some contact details of firms that might be helpful. I've come up against some problems though. I emailed the wiring harness manufacturer but have received no replies. I don't think they know the answers.
These are the 2 main problems at the moment:
a) I have located a firm that can supply a timer. They are asking if the timer should have single pole or dual pole. I don't know what the answer to this should be.
b) There are 2 kinds of ballast available for the lamps. Electro-mechanical and electronic. The electro-mechanical ones are far too heavy. They weigh about 2 kilos each and there is one for each lamp. 20 kilos! It's a non starter. The electronic ballasts power 2 lamps each. They are much lighter and will add very little weight. However, the ones available are far too expensive at around 60 GBP (78 dollars). It would mean zero profit margin for my bed. One of the firms recommended by the harness manufacturer makes ballasts for LEDs. I asked if they could make me a suitable electronic ballast for my tanning lamps. This is what they say:
"
Before we do anything we really need to establish if it is a DC or AC output.
If it is an AC output then we would not have anything suitable.
Let me know and we will go from there. "
The tanning bed runs on a domestic supply. 240 volts AC in uk or 110 volts AC in US. But does the ballast convert it into DC?
Here is a link https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392264011057 to an electronic ballast (although it is for 100 watt lamps, I'm currently planing to use 160 watt lamps for my prototype. (I might change to 100 watt lamps if the high powered lamps produce too much heat.) I've loaded a picture of the electro-magnetic ballasts I was sent by the distributor for the lamps. Any suggestions on how to move this forward will be very gratefully received including suggestions on how I can learn more about the technical aspects of tanning bed circuits and electronic ballasts in general and for tanning lamps specifically.
I am producing a small, home tanning bed. It hangs on a door to save space. It has 10 lamps. With the help of a local laser cutting and folding firm after several prototypes I now have a really great chassis for it.
I took it to a harness manufacturer and they were really helpful. They said they would send me the design for the wiring and they also gave me some contact details of firms that might be helpful. I've come up against some problems though. I emailed the wiring harness manufacturer but have received no replies. I don't think they know the answers.
These are the 2 main problems at the moment:
a) I have located a firm that can supply a timer. They are asking if the timer should have single pole or dual pole. I don't know what the answer to this should be.
b) There are 2 kinds of ballast available for the lamps. Electro-mechanical and electronic. The electro-mechanical ones are far too heavy. They weigh about 2 kilos each and there is one for each lamp. 20 kilos! It's a non starter. The electronic ballasts power 2 lamps each. They are much lighter and will add very little weight. However, the ones available are far too expensive at around 60 GBP (78 dollars). It would mean zero profit margin for my bed. One of the firms recommended by the harness manufacturer makes ballasts for LEDs. I asked if they could make me a suitable electronic ballast for my tanning lamps. This is what they say:
"
Before we do anything we really need to establish if it is a DC or AC output.
If it is an AC output then we would not have anything suitable.
Let me know and we will go from there. "
The tanning bed runs on a domestic supply. 240 volts AC in uk or 110 volts AC in US. But does the ballast convert it into DC?
Here is a link https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392264011057 to an electronic ballast (although it is for 100 watt lamps, I'm currently planing to use 160 watt lamps for my prototype. (I might change to 100 watt lamps if the high powered lamps produce too much heat.) I've loaded a picture of the electro-magnetic ballasts I was sent by the distributor for the lamps. Any suggestions on how to move this forward will be very gratefully received including suggestions on how I can learn more about the technical aspects of tanning bed circuits and electronic ballasts in general and for tanning lamps specifically.