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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Basement seed room

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Erik Lane <eriklane AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Basement seed room
  • Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:08:38 -0800



On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 5:45 PM, MAsteveINE <MAsteveINE AT 207me.com> wrote:
 

 If I've completely misunderstood you then I'm sorry.
 
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 
I think we are on the same trend here, I have some 4 foot shop lights that weigh
a few ounces, run regular tubes, and do not have the heavy black ballast box that others do. I almost stuck in a note this morning that said I have no idea how or why they work.
I also should have said I like handling them when moving up or down, but feel I got less life from the tubes.
 



The heavy black ballasts are the old magnetic style ballasts. They are not nearly as efficient as the new ballasts, but they do seem to last for a long time. The new ballasts are electronic, and like anything else you get what you pay for. Meaning that there are different quality levels of the electronic ones. The electronic ballasts claim better efficiency, because they can regulate just what power the bulb needs, and put the power out at a higher frequency, which somehow keeps the mercury in the tube energized more efficiently. I had to look that up on wikipedia, cause I didn't know why they were more efficient.

At any rate, the electronic ones are much lighter than the old heavy magnetic ballasts. They are a real pleasure to work with, in comparison. With a setup like yours, you should be able to remove the center shielding metal in the light and see the ballast. It sits in the same place that a magnetic one would.

The new electronic ones also claim to be better for the life of the bulbs, I thought. That's interesting that you seem to get less. I've never really compared them.

Erik




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