From: Tom Ferguson (tomf2468@pipeline.com)
Date: 06/22/01-08:48:03 AM Z
Consider this "anecdotal" info, but it has worked for me.
An inexpensive ready-made florescent fixture often has JUST enough grounding
to get a regular bulb to light. This we then "mess up" in two ways, and
thus need to add extra grounding help:
One: we put a lot of them together as close as possible. This SEEMS to mess
with the ballast's ability to start. I've ASSUMED this has to do with the
magnetic field of one ballast affecting (poorly) the work of the ballast's
near it. I've ASSUMED that those using separately bought ballasts don't
have this problems because they come in grounded metal cases which acts as a
shield, the cheap fixtures are often plastic (no shielding) or aluminum
grounded poorly (through paint is common and very poor). I reverse every
other fixture to help minimize this problem.
Two: We put in UV bulbs, which SEEM to take more of a spike to get started.
Some cheap "Home Depot" fixtures I tried would not light one UV bulb in a
stand alone situation!
Judy and Richard had worried me early on in my light bank building with
comments on foil and reflections. So I simply run two grounded (but
insulated) wires across the "tops" (away from the print) of the bulbs at 1/3
and 2/3 their length. By "grounded" I mean connected to the "third prong"
in a US electrical system. The secret here SEEMS to be putting the ground
(the two wires) as close to the bulbs as possible. The only thing between
my ground and bulbs is the wire's insulation (it is just a good safety
measure to leave the insulation on). CHECK YOUR WIREING FIRST BEFORE
FOLLOWING THIS ADVICE: a surprising number of home electrical systems are
not wired correctly! You can buy a simply "plug and see" tester at most
good hardware stores.
Seems to work just fine for me. If something isn't turning on, it because
of a bad bulb or ballast!
-- Tom Ferguson http://www.ferguson-photo-design.com> From: Judy Seigel <jseigel@panix.com> > Subject: grounding fluorescents > > > > On Thu, 21 Jun 2001, G.Penate wrote: > >> I said: "once it is going, the BALLAST/STARTER becomes more than capable to >> keep it going without any help, until the lamp is turned off and the gas >> electrons get "lazy" once again." >> >> it should have read: "once it is going, the BALLAST becomes more than >> capable to keep it going without any help, until the lamp is turned off and >> the gas electrons get "lazy" once again." >> >> Guillermo > > What isn't clear to me, but I hope you or Gord or Bill or another person > savvy in such matters can explain is, can grounding be a problem with > ready-made strips? I'd always assumed they were made grounded, that is > the ones that come with plug and switch ready-to-use. But there seems > possibility from what's said today that I should in any event check > grounding of the receptacle ??? > > And Keith, you might consider removing the foil once the lights are lit, > if it's feasible. My tests showed that it really did fuzz up the image -- > tho perhaps might not with a digital neg. > > Judy > > ................................................................. > | Judy Seigel, Editor > > | World Journal of Post-Factory Photography > "HOW-TO and WHY" > | info@post-factory.org > > | <http://rmp.opusis.com/postfactory/postfactory.html> > ................................................................. > > >
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