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Growing under Lights

fluorescent fixtures, ballasts and safe circuit capacity

17 years ago

A simple (I hope) question arising out of my limited knowledge of ballasts in fluorescent light fixtures . . .

In determining the load that a fluorescent fixture contributes on a circuit, does the ballast figure in? That is, the load from 36 40W bulbs would just meet the safe "constant use" (80%) threshhold on a 15A circuit, but what about the ballasts in the fixtures? If ballasts make a contribution, where is the information to calculate it?

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Comments (2)

zink
17 years ago
ez,

Here is the extra power consumed by the ballasts. These figures are per each bulb:

Magnetic Ballast(40w) = 6.0 watts
Electronic Ballast Rapid Start (32w) = 3.5 watts
Electronic Ballast Instant Start (32w) = 2.5 watts

Zink
turtlegreen
17 years ago
Also, the amps that the ballast draws is always printed on the ballast case. In the case of the HD Sunpark ballasts, it's 1.0 amp. And that's probably a maximum figure at startup.
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