[RFI] Electronic Fluorescent Ballasts - look for Residential rated

[Steve]

Hi Eric,

Replacing the fixture may be the route I take. However, as far as I have 
determined to date, no manufacturer produces a residential electronic 
ballast for 8ft lamp fixtures. May end up with two 4ft fixtures.

I called five local electrical houses today. The "counter" guys haven't 
a clue about Class A versus Class B. After educating them a bit, I 
learned that none of these suppliers stock residential electronic 
ballasts. One said he could look into them, but I would have to buy a 
carton of the ballasts -- either six or ten to a carton. So that's a 
no-go. One of the electrical houses said he thought they had some left 
over magnetic ballasts, he's going to check, it will probably be next 
week to get back to me. I'm going to wait, see how that turns out.

Spent some time talking with a ballast technician at Philips Advance. He 
understood my EMI/RFI problem, but could offer no advice to 
reduce/control the emissions from the Class A ballasts. I learned from 
him that Philips Advance does not produce a residential ballast for 8ft 
fixtures, although they do for 4ft and shorter fixtures.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

Steve K8JQ

On 12/26/2012 11:26 AM, Eric - VE3GSI wrote:
> Steve,
> Several months ago I needed to buy a bunch of fixtures for my shop. 
> The short story is I ended up buying new off the shelf 'domestic' 
> fixtures as they were cheaper then buying the dang ballast need for 
> some used shop fixtures I had offered to me.
>
> Though I never followed through with the ballast purchase, I did find 
> that the Phillips Advance ballast with the suffix of ES (I think) and 
> with the voltage of 120 input were the only ones for domestic use I 
> could find that were suppose to be RFI clean. The internal diagram I 
> was provided with showed some RFI filtering. As someone on this 
> reflector has pointed out the 120-277 input voltage tends to be 
> commercial only with no filters incorporated in the design.
>
> Unfortunately, I had a hard drive crash in the middle of this project 
> and the document was lost.  So again, the above is from memory.
>
> Good luck.
> Eric - VE3GSI
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve"
> Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2012 10:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [RFI] Electronic Fluorescent Ballasts - look for 
> Residential rated
>
>
>> Thanks for the advice Tom.
>>
>> The local Lowe's sells Philips ADVANCE ballasts. The model 
>> ICN-2P60-SC is for a pair of T12 lamps, 6ft or 8ft.
>>
>> The installation instructions in the box have a brief paragraph on 
>> the last page regarding EMI/EFI. The last two sentences in particular 
>> caught my eye: "Most ballasts meet the lass stringent Non-Consumer 
>> requirements for commercial applications. Ballasts meeting the more 
>> stringent Consumer requirements for residential applications are 
>> noted as such on the ballast label."
>>
>> There is no indication on the ballast label that it is consumer 
>> rated. Indeed, the Philips Technical Datasheet indicates the ADVANCE 
>> line of ballasts is "Non-Consumer (Class A) rated for EMI/RFI."
>>
>> Going to call local electrical houses tomorrow, see what they have to 
>> offer.
>>
>> Do you know who might manufacture a consumer rated ballast? How much 
>> quieter is RF-wise the consumer rated ballast as compared to the 
>> non-consumer rated device?
>>
>> Steve K8JQ
>>
>> On 12/25/2012 7:21 PM, Tom McDermott wrote:
>>> Hi Steve,
>>> FCC Part 18 covers EMI from lighting. It has two EMI categories 
>>> (analogous
>>> to Part 15): Residential and Industrial/Commerical. You can find 
>>> electronic
>>> ballasts (used with T8 fluorescent tubes) that are rated for 
>>> residential
>>> use - although not always at the big box stores. The magnetic 
>>> ballasts are
>>> used with T12 fluorescent tubes. It is well worth the trouble 
>>> RFI-wise to
>>> search for residential classified ballasts if you are using 
>>> electronic ballasts.
>>> -- Tom, N5EG
>>>
>>>> Hi all,
>>>>
>>>> I have a 2-tube 96 inch fluorescent lamp over my electronics 
>>>> workbench.
>>>> The ballast needs replacing. The old ballast is inductive and I am not
>>>> aware of any RFI issues caused by it.
>>>>
>>>> The big-box stores only carry the electronic ballasts. Wonder if the
>>>> electronic ballast will cause me problems?
>>>>
>>>> Is there anywhere one can still buy the inductive ballast?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> Steve, K8JQ
>>>> Charleston, WV
>
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