Does a fluorescent bulb use more electricity during the start up charge of the ballast?

Question

I'm looking into a light for my closet. Fluorescents in general use less than an indesant. However I'm usually in my closet for only 1 min. at a time. What would be more efficient?

Answer 1

Fluorescent bulbs do use more electricity at start up. Myth Busters on the Discovery Channel actually determined how much exactly, but the number escapes me.

They determined that fluroescent bulbs have the greatest startup requirement for electricity even when compared to normal incandescent bulbs.

What I would do is buy an energy star light bulb. It looks like a ridiculous squiggly column of lines but it will last long and uses almost 100x less energy than a fluorescent bulb.

Answer 2

Those squiggly bulbs ARE fluorescent, and they're what you should use. Yes, technically speaking they take more energy to start up than they do to run. however they use less energy than a incandescent bulb anyway. now i don't know the exact numbers here nor but its all to prove a principle and its not the exact numbers that matter.
typical incandescent bulb(icb) runs at between 40-100 watts. u only need it for a closet so lets use 40. and a typical fluorescent bulb(fb) for the situation would be 11watts(ill use 10 to make things easy)

now lets say the icb takes 1 second to power up at 150% or normal power draw. and the fb takes 3 seconds to power up at 300% power draw.

after 5 seconds the icb has drawn 60 watt-seconds to start and 160-watt seconds to run. 220 watt seconds total.

and after 5 seconds the fb has drawn 90 watt-seconds to start up and 20 to run. 110 total.

so unless you intend to use your closet light for a strobe light fluorescent is the clear choice..... until commercially available LED's become a viable source of illumination.

FYI- hertz is a measure of cycles per second. 60Hz is 60 cycles a second. honest mistake we do divide measurements of time into 60.

Answer 3

The start up of the ballast of the fluorescent bulb is basically a spike of high voltage to initiate the conduction between the two ends of the bulb. It is a very short spike and does not contain high current due to the restriction of the coil itself (inductive reactance). The electricity consumption during the start up is very minimal.

Answer 4

i might verify the wiring on the tombstone (the place the pins on the bulbs plug in to the fixture). in the event that they are loose you may desire to get some flickering from a chilly start up. Twist them bulbs in there extra valuable. verify you used the ballast that replaced into cautioned for the bulbs. There are T12 and T8 bulbs getting used frequently in residences in the present day. i might additionally verify the wiring on the change. make helpful those connections are tight. Double verify your wiring on the ballest besides. human beings get issues blended up continuously and strange issues can take place.

Answer 5

No. Our electricity is at 60hz which i 1 complete cycle per second. The balast and capacitor are instantly on. Florecent lighting produces more light and less heat. Generally abot 45% less electricity is used for florecent as apposed to conventional lighting

Answer 6

Very slightly more for a very short period of time. You may wish to change to LED lights when the cost comes down. Fluorescent lights take a bit of time to come on and more time to get to full brightness.

Answer 7

Check in your light department and replace all lights with the new CFL Bulbs, they save money all around. Cost a bit to buy, but well worth it, trust me I redone my whole house and its much worth it. They save you a lot of money in the long run.

Answer 8

if youre only in your closet a couple minutes a day the electricity used is pretty negligible.... its good your concious but you might be putting a little more thought than needed into the decision

Answer 9

Yes dear.

Answer 10

fluorescent definitely