The right way to wire an electronic ballast to T9 tube
@shelleyfrank-zypEUA
•
Oct 26, 2024
Oct 26, 2024
1.4K
I would like to draw your attention to an illustration linked to an old post on this forum entitled "Circuit diagram of tube light/ December 2008":
![[IMG]](proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ledlightbulb.net%2Fhow_to_use_LED_fluorescent.jpg&hash=e75b3e8aad5ea343a7f20c95319cf932)
I have purchased a draughtsman's lamp from the USA last year since it was the only fluorescent/ incandescent combination lamp I could find on the internet. I had to operate it using a 240V to 110V step-down transformer, which was an economical concern from the onset, so I attempted to convert the lamp to the British 240V convention and replace the inductance ballast with an electronic ballast. I rewired the incandescent lamp by adding an L pole from the mains. The whole rig works fine, if not for a little bit of unconventional wiring for the tube light.
The original lamp's circuit has a conventional inductance ballast and starter identical to the second diagram in the illustration above.
My lamp's ballast lives in the base of the lamp with the N wire and the ballasted L wire fed through the swing arm stem to the lamp housing, i.e. only two wires, in stead of four, which appears to be the proper way to wire an electronic ballast to the tube viz. illustration above.
I have removed the inductance ballast and replaced it with an OSRAM Quicktronic ECO electronic ballast. Having played around with the contacts on the ballast I managed by chance to find an unconventional way to power the lamp without the use of the starter condenser and without adding more wires to the lamp housing. This was achieved by jumping S1 to S3 and jumping S2 to S4 as in the diagram. The FS-22 starter is removed:
![[IMG]](proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fmichaelpienaar.co.uk%2Fassets%2Fimages%2FT9_mod_circuit.jpg&hash=a976e03de638f55f40e7a5fc549f5a99)
I am not currently using the lamp with this configuration, and I'm not professing such a use. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the circuit does work, though. Can anyone shed some light on the function of the electronic ballast and how the electricity is conveyed to the tube. How does the lamp ignite and retain luminescence with an apparently broken circuit? I also need some advice as to how safe this configuration is and weather such a configuration may shorten the life of either the ballast or the lamp.
I have purchased a draughtsman's lamp from the USA last year since it was the only fluorescent/ incandescent combination lamp I could find on the internet. I had to operate it using a 240V to 110V step-down transformer, which was an economical concern from the onset, so I attempted to convert the lamp to the British 240V convention and replace the inductance ballast with an electronic ballast. I rewired the incandescent lamp by adding an L pole from the mains. The whole rig works fine, if not for a little bit of unconventional wiring for the tube light.
The original lamp's circuit has a conventional inductance ballast and starter identical to the second diagram in the illustration above.
My lamp's ballast lives in the base of the lamp with the N wire and the ballasted L wire fed through the swing arm stem to the lamp housing, i.e. only two wires, in stead of four, which appears to be the proper way to wire an electronic ballast to the tube viz. illustration above.
I have removed the inductance ballast and replaced it with an OSRAM Quicktronic ECO electronic ballast. Having played around with the contacts on the ballast I managed by chance to find an unconventional way to power the lamp without the use of the starter condenser and without adding more wires to the lamp housing. This was achieved by jumping S1 to S3 and jumping S2 to S4 as in the diagram. The FS-22 starter is removed:
I am not currently using the lamp with this configuration, and I'm not professing such a use. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the circuit does work, though. Can anyone shed some light on the function of the electronic ballast and how the electricity is conveyed to the tube. How does the lamp ignite and retain luminescence with an apparently broken circuit? I also need some advice as to how safe this configuration is and weather such a configuration may shorten the life of either the ballast or the lamp.