Australia Ballast

[wolverine_x 0]

Hi all.. I juz got 11 downlights yesterday with 13W bulb and with australian ballast (having a kangaroo logo and said "made in australia"). I installed 4 of the lights last night... However, it kept flickering for a few times before the light is on. Could it be the ballast not able to support the 13W bulb? However, the guy who served me said that the ballast could support till 13W.. if it is 18W bulb, it will keep flickering.... Can anyone help me in this? Thank u.

PS: By the way, I got the whole set of downlight at $11 each, total $121 for 11 pieces. The bulb is not philip or osram.. some other brand which I couldn't remember but it is in blue box.

Edited June 25, 2008 by wolverine_x

[MaCe 3]

For lifespan, if you use a 13W ballast to run a 10W lamp, of cos the lamp will still work but the 10W lamp will fail earlier as its been over powered. Under powered like using 10W ballast to work on 13W will either lamp not working or fail early too.

nope, it doesnt work this way

when a ballast says 13 watts - what it means is - it is able to supply UP TO 13 watts not fixed 13 watts.

there is no such thing as overpowered.

Underpowered exist when you use a lower wattage ballast to power a higher wattage bulb.

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it's much more convenient to just get a downlight without ballast - so you can just screw in/out those energy saving bulbs.

design/plan your house to look like house, unless you are some billionaire who has a 24x7 techician to change ballast/bulbs for you.

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For magnetic ballasts - my take is - dont bother about brands. most would last at least 10 yrs or more except for those cheapo dunno made in where ballasts.

For electronic ballasts - you better stick to osram or philips. I have yet to try ATCO.

Edited June 25, 2008 by MaCe

[apprye 0]

it's much more convenient to just get a downlight without ballast - so you can just screw in/out those energy saving bulbs.

design/plan your house to look like house, unless you are some billionaire who has a 24x7 techician to change ballast/bulbs for you.

Hmm... Should request these type of downlights from my ID then...

For magnetic ballasts - my take is - dont bother about brands. most would last at least 10 yrs or more except for those cheapo dunno made in where ballasts.

For electronic ballasts - you better stick to osram or philips. I have yet to try ATCO.

The uncle at Kelantan lane told me that the light that I'm keen to get cant fit the philips electronic ballast due to the cramped space.. He's offering to change it to ATCO for me...

[jtek 0]

nope, it doesnt work this way

when a ballast says 13 watts - what it means is - it is able to supply UP TO 13 watts not fixed 13 watts.

there is no such thing as overpowered.

Underpowered exist when you use a lower wattage ballast to power a higher wattage bulb.

_____________________________________________________

it's much more convenient to just get a downlight without ballast - so you can just screw in/out those energy saving bulbs.

design/plan your house to look like house, unless you are some billionaire who has a 24x7 techician to change ballast/bulbs for you.

_____________________________________________________

For magnetic ballasts - my take is - dont bother about brands. most would last at least 10 yrs or more except for those cheapo dunno made in where ballasts.

For electronic ballasts - you better stick to osram or philips. I have yet to try ATCO.

Oic, maybe i'm wrong about it. But do agree that screw type energy saving lamps are much user friendly to home user.

As for the magnetic ballast brand, i think its better to choose good and known brands like ATCO, Philips etc. Reason is because of safety for homes. Those in-house brand or Malaysian made are made from those $$$ eyed factory who only think about making $$$. ATCO & Philips are big MNC which reputation are at stake so must comply to international standard.

Look at ATCO & Philips from the following link, they are not just a local lighting shop or backyard factory making ballast. Both of them are over 50 years history in making the best lighting parts for the world.

http://www.tridonicatco.com/kms/cms/kms.php?str_id=74

http://www.lighting.philips.com.sg/sg/en/P...&fldr_id=99

Well thats all i felt about it when it comes to electrical items, SAFETY. But doesn't mean I'm right.

[seashell 0]

hi

i would like to ask, does it mean those screw on downlight does not require ballast?

will the bulb last without the use of ballast?

[lipton 0]

hi

i would like to ask, does it mean those screw on downlight does not require ballast?

will the bulb last without the use of ballast?

screw on downlight does not require ballast as it's built-in.

For PLC (i.e. downlight bulb that requires ballast), you need a ballast (duh!). haha

It tends to have a shorter lifespan due to the heat, especially for downlights since it's enclosed.

Edited August 19, 2009 by lipton

[seashell 0]

thanks for the info lipton..!

sory just confused, do u mean screw on downlight has a shorter lifespan?

actually i was looking at those downlight that does not cover with cover. even with 1 bulb, it is already quite bright. am i right to say that, if i dun mind the design, if i take those downlight with no cover, the brightness will not lose out to those downlight with cover n 2 bulbs?

[gangeshertz 0]

thanks for the info lipton..!

sory just confused, do u mean screw on downlight has a shorter lifespan?

actually i was looking at those downlight that does not cover with cover. even with 1 bulb, it is already quite bright. am i right to say that, if i dun mind the design, if i take those downlight with no cover, the brightness will not lose out to those downlight with cover n 2 bulbs?

Hi Seashell -

Yes you are right. For PL-C lighting fixture, if you install those without glass cover, it will be brighter and also have other advantages like the ease of installation without damaging your false ceiling or L-Box. It also allow you to change the wattage of the bulb (provided you install a higher wattage ballast).

Those with glass cover matted surface will somehow block the direct casting of the light spectrum hence reducing the brightness, hence the manufacturer has worked around this by pairing 2 tubes. So usually those "covered" ones comes with 2 tubes.

PL-C (aka known TC-D) is a short form for "Philips Linear - Compact". This fluorescent lamp is a 2 pin type. The common wattage found in most light shops are 10,13,18 watts. Seldom we see 26 watts.

To power such lights, we need a magnetic ballast. How we can match the type of ballast to the type of tubes? After using PLC lamp for 15 years, also doing a bit of research on such lamps, I have the following observations:

Of course, the electrician and the manufacturer of the ballast will advise you to match x wattage to x wattage; meaning both must be equal. For 10 w tube to match with 10 w ballast.

My observation - practical experience based on 15 years usage.

Scenario A = 13 wattage ballast + 13 watt bulb = good match, no issue, long life span, 1 or 2 fickle, bulb will deliver its stated lumens rating.

Scenario B = 13 wattage ballast + 10 watt bulb (Diff is 3 watt) = no issue (life span of bulb is equally as long as above), same number of fickle observed.

Scenario C =13 wattage ballast + 18 watt bulb = still can light up, brightness improve, it will take more fickles before it can light up. Lifespan shorter due to the numerous fickle.

Conclusion - So if you will need to install 18 watt light tube, i advise you to fix a 18 watt ATCO ballast.

Based on the above experiment, i believe to power up an 13 watt ballast with a 18 wattage will be ok but i feel the lifespan will be shorter compare to Scenario B because the wattage difference is 5 watts (higher than scenario B)

All types of lighting elements will have lifespan include those HID, metal halide lamp and LED as long as there is fickle, it will have a lifespan. By turning on and off - it consider one 'fickle' Same to those LED TV, will have lifespan too.

[gangeshertz 0]

Screw on type - this means the cap base is E27. This type of lighting is different from PL-C or PL-L. E27, or E14 concept will not need any ballast. Its electronic circuit is already in-built inside the bulb.

E27 concept will be much better but the cost of the bulb will be slightly higher compare to PL-C bulb.

A Panasonic PLC 18 watts bulb cost about $2.90 (the cheapest i can find)

A Philips E27 base 5 watts about $3.50 (the cheapest i can find)

Life span wise, PLC (non-integrated) beats E27 (integrated). There was one time, Philips built the worst first energy saver CFL bulb with a magnetic ballast built-in inside the bulb - this bulb so far has the longest lifespan of more than 10 to 15 years. So philips being a victim of his own success, immediately stop such product because no one will change bulb if theirs is still working (although, it takes a while for such bulb to lighten up fully - like those you found in badminton hall or your school sport hall).

So those E27 bulbs you saw in the shop don't expect them to last for 10 years already. Philips technology team can built long lasting bulbs but this will hurt their business strategy.

China made bulbs and those mixed brands will last about 1 year or last.