Eric,
perhaps a naive question, but has anyone brought this subject up with
Industry Canada? I have a difficult time understanding why a
"commercial" product is designed to a lower standard than a
consumer/residential device. In my mind, a commercial ballast would
require more stringent emi limits given the likelihood they'd be used in
much higher concentration (office buildings, factories etc).
Kirb - VE6IV
On 25/10/12 20:57, Eric - VE3GSI wrote:
Tony,
I just this week bought 7 fluorescent fixtures from Lowe's, labeled
'performance shop light plus'. These are the plug in domestic type
fixture and I found them to be RF quiet. They appear to be by a
company called American Fluorescent (made in China). At forty bucks a
fixture they are cheaper then most replacement ballast.
But as Mike - KM0T has mentioned, be very much aware of the comercial
broad voltage range ballast, i.e. types like Sylvinia and Triad (and I
am sure others). I tried the commercial lights with these type of
ballast and they were so noisy the 'damn' things actually wiped out
all but the very strong local FM stations on my shop radio.
Interesting, I did not find them to cause any problems on my HF gear,
but my Ham antennas are located away from the shop.
One thing about the big box stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, they
take items back if you find they are not what you want. In fact, I
simply bought several different fixtures to try and took back the ones
not suited for the job and as the case of the commercial units unfit
for use around a radio. Mike has detailed a post on commercial
fixtures, in short, I echo his views and like him found most sellers
could care less. I did have one person tell me to buy a better
radio... no I did not hit him, I did come close though.
Eric - VE3GSI.
PS.
I did have an electrician offer me all the magnetic ballast I want
just for the asking (no fixtures). The ballast are the ones removed
from commercial sites where they are upgrading customers with the
electronic ballast to lower electric costs. I can see in places where
there are several hundred fixtures, or more, it definitely would
lower electrical costs. In any case, for those interested, try your
local commercial electrician to see what they are tossing in the
garbage bin.
er.
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