CF Rated Wattage
 

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

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

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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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

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.