Flouros....hum

D

DVX100Shooter

Veteran
What makes Flouro lights hum when turned on? How do you get around that? Do all Flouro's hum or buzz? I noticed this yesterday as I am house hunting and the real estate agent went to turn on the light in the garage and the flouro's started a humming sound.
 
Re: Flouros....hum

I think it's because of the cheaper ballasts used in standard fixtures. You can get some more expensive ones that are nearly silent.
 
Re: Flouros....hum

Fluoros usually buzz because of cheap or defective ballasts. If you get a commercial fixture, there are A, B, and C-rated ballasts---the A rated ballasts are the most quiet. Sometimes fixtures buzz just because the ballast is vibrating against sheet metal. In that case you can beef up the mounting to get rid of the noise. Electronic ballasts are better than magnetic ones, but cheap ones can still buzz.
 
Re: Flouros....hum

Generally, there are three types of ballasts, magnetic, low frequency electronic and electronic.

Magnetic ballasts use a core/coil transformer to generate the voltage needed to strike and operate a discharge lamp. They're slightly inefficient and because they're a magnetic transformer, they're quite noisey.

Low frequency electronic ballasts are sometimes sold as electronic ballasts, but they're essentially still magnetic ballasts. They simply employ a switch that diverts current from the coil once the lamp has struck. This is simply to increase the efficiency of the circuit.

Finally, electronic ballasts work by electronically transforming the voltage from 60 Hz to somewhere between 20 and 40 kHz.

They can still make noise (and can still introduce serious electronic noise into a line), but even if you have a noise-prone ballast, it's already operating at a much higher, and thus much less detectable frequency.
 
Re: Flouros....hum

Very specialized gremlins that live only in electricity and circuitry....but we're supposed to give them fancy technical names so we sound smarter to the laymen.

Come on, Rush, get with the program. :P
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top