CF Rated Wattage

[Nikki Casali]

Would there be any harm in using a 36 watt compact fluorescent T5 tube
with a 55 watt electronic ballast? I presume the tube just pulls as much
current as needed. The reason for the higher wattage ballast is to allow
for the potential to "upgrade".

Nikki

[Richard Blincoe]

The ballast is to limit the current flow to the amount needed by the lamp.

In the world of conventional ballasts I think it fairly important to use the
"correct" matching ballast for the lamp.

I think a lot of electronic ballast are actually rated for a wattage range
i.e. 30-60w?? but I am not certain on it...


"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
> Would there be any harm in using a 36 watt compact fluorescent T5 tube
> with a 55 watt electronic ballast? I presume the tube just pulls as much
> current as needed. The reason for the higher wattage ballast is to allow
> for the potential to "upgrade".
>
> Nikki
>

[Richard Sexton]

In article >,
Nikki Casali > wrote:
>Would there be any harm in using a 36 watt compact fluorescent T5 tube
>with a 55 watt electronic ballast? I presume the tube just pulls as much
>current as needed. The reason for the higher wattage ballast is to allow
>for the potential to "upgrade".

You'll never know until you try. 65 and 55 are interchangeable. 36 and 40
are interchangable. 36 to 55 is a bit of a stretch, but it might be ok. I've
got a T12 ballast here that works wi 2 40W tubes or 1 40W tube or 1 25W tube.

The only thing you can't do is mix tubes of different wattages. That doesn't work.

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[Nikki Casali]

Richard Sexton wrote:
> In article >,
> Nikki Casali > wrote:
>
>>Would there be any harm in using a 36 watt compact fluorescent T5 tube
>>with a 55 watt electronic ballast? I presume the tube just pulls as much
>>current as needed. The reason for the higher wattage ballast is to allow
>>for the potential to "upgrade".
>
>
> You'll never know until you try. 65 and 55 are interchangeable. 36 and 40
> are interchangable. 36 to 55 is a bit of a stretch, but it might be ok. I've
> got a T12 ballast here that works wi 2 40W tubes or 1 40W tube or 1 25W tube.
>
> The only thing you can't do is mix tubes of different wattages. That doesn't work.
>

It's a shame there aren't any dimmable CFL ballasts in existence
anywhere in the known universe. Maybe someone can hack one together from
a linear T5 dimmable ballast? I presume there is no electrical
difference between the two?

Nikki

[Ian Stirling]

In rec.aquaria.tech Nikki Casali > wrote:
<snip>
> It's a shame there aren't any dimmable CFL ballasts in existence
> anywhere in the known universe. Maybe someone can hack one together from
> a linear T5 dimmable ballast? I presume there is no electrical
> difference between the two?

There are, actually.
Apparently noone makes a "in one" controller chip for 240V, only 110V.
I suppose you could buy dimmable 110V CFLs and use a transformer.