What type of electrical energy do flourescent bulbs operate on.?

Question

The bllast on mine does not say what is output, DC?? or AC? It says it is made by a transmormer Co. which I assume means a change from volts to amps, can they be run on DC, also need to know how they would be wired, or work, or maybe I need to check out if there are 12Vdc grow lights.

Answer 1

k here is the real deal everything uses DC to run. your microwave your car your toaster your tv but to transmit the electricity over long distances you have to use AC or you lose to much juice. so everything takes AC in through the cord or direct wire and then converts inside. so those three wires coming out of the ballast are AC in and the two wires that actually touch the tubes are DC out. but honestly if you have to ask this question then maybe you need to ask someone to help you install that light.

Answer 2

The bulbs themselves don't care.  Fluorescent lamps are just mercury-vapor arcs with phosphors to convert the ultraviolet mercury radiation to visible radiation.  They work the same whether the excitation current is DC (unidirectional) or AC (alternating in direction), though the bulb's electrodes wear out unevenly if DC is used.

All fluorescent lamps have mechanisms for generating a high-voltage spike to strike the arc, and a current-limiting system to maintain it without blowing the lamp.  The old-fashioned way to do this is with an iron-core "ballast" which is driven with AC and just hooked in series with the lamp, while the new-fangled way is with solid-state stuff which controls the current using switching transistors.  To judge from the uneven wear on all such lamps (only one end of the tube turns black with age), most or all solid-state ballasts drive the bulb with DC.

FYI, if you don't know the difference between volts and amps you have no hope of converting a lamp to run on 12 volts by yourself.  You could buy a 12 VDC to 110 VAC inverter, or buy some RV or camping fluorescent lamps which take the right type of tube and put grow-light tubes in them.

Last, don't expect to grow much on grow-lights powered by a solar or RV electrical system.  Plants run on solar energy, and they get up to a hundred watts per square foot in direct sunlight.  You'll be lucky if you can mantain 10 watts of light (30-35 watts of drive power) overnight, and that's just for one square foot of leaf area.

Answer 3

Did you buy a standard light from a store?
Or are you just playing with parts discovered somewhere?
If you don't know the difference between volts and amps, you shouldn't be playing with wiring anyway.
Almost all Ballasts for Flourescent lights will tell you how many bulbs and of what wattage they will handle.
It's printed on the sticker along with wiring instructions.
Buy bulbs rated at what the sticker says, follow the wiring diagram on the ballast, and amazingly enough...it should work!

Answer 4

Fluroescent bulbs can run on either ac or dc. In both cases electricity excites the gas which emits electrons and hits a powder inside the bulb and makes it glow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp

You should be able to find fluorescent grow lamps.

Answer 5

Volts and amps are not the same thing.

Amps and Watts can be correlated.

It is probalby AC

Not sure about GROW lights

You are mixing apples with oranges here.

Electrical things have a GOES INTO and GOES OUTTA

Normal flourescent bulbs GOES INTO a balast, whichs COMES OUTTA who knows.

AC things are large. Like the size of light bulbs or big tubes

DC things are small, like LEDs or small little glow lamps (1" in size).

That's about all I can tell you based upon your description.

Answer 6

They work on either...DC is the kind of electricity that batteries create, and AC it the kind the travels through wires. Batteries create electricity through chemical reaction, and A/C is created by creating positively charged ions.

Answer 7

in the adventure that they don't spoil, sensible. yet like each body already is general with, they comprise mercury. and that i recognize human beings favor to chime in like above putting forward "that's in simple terms slightly" and "follow the EPA's guidelines for sparkling-up". even as that ought to nicely be actual that that's in simple terms slightly, it in simple terms takes slightly to make someone unwell or perhaps kill someone. And being that folk have households with toddlers, that possibility is even more beneficial for ailment round a damaged bulb for the youngsters. i have also considered lots of a similar human beings say in different posts "who is going round breaking mild bulbs besides?". nicely, geniuses, that's extremely glaring you do not have toddlers, because toddlers will be toddlers and issues can and do spoil, no matter if that's mom's admired knick-knacks or a mild bulb. not each mishap will be prevented no be counted how troublesome one tries. So, that being suggested, why ought to someone be compelled to used a probably risky mild bulb of their domicile in the adventure that they sense that's not secure for them or their kin? no you may ever look to provide instantly answer on that question in view that they are so good at minimizing what can be a actual chance to a kin's toddlers. And to this point as disposing precise of the bulbs on your city, I agree that must be an automatic if someone buys them. notwithstanding, many cities are literally not equipped to regulate them and those that are, a lot of human beings are to not blame about putting off them (in case you do not have self assurance me bypass right down to the poorer neighborhoods in any important city, recycling is a shaggy dog tale in view that each thing is considered garbage). so as meaning they finally end up on your interior of sight landfill, precisely the position they ought to not be. truly, if someone needs a CFL, they ought to not be banned from possessing it regardless of mercury. They recognize the hazards and that's their decision to achieve this. yet maximum human beings's purple meat with those issues is they'll be compelled to used them even as they don't favor to, no matter if that's because the mercury in them, or that they are 10 situations as intense priced as a general incandescent. It would not make any experience that we enable authorities the make certain what's more beneficial valuable for a persons'' domicile than the actual resident.

Answer 8

transformers only work with ac voltage

Answer 9

Look at how stuff works. (see source)

Answer 10

alternating current...ac.