Fluo bank light vs CFL's
- Thread starter TheJackyl
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TheJackyl said:
advantages/disadvantages
1). Since the CFLs have integrated ballasts they are a bit more expensive to replace, but the good thing is they last a while. 55w biax and 42w triple twin tubes require separate ballasts. These bulbs are still pretty pricey to replace but not as much as if they would have an integrated ballast!
2). 55w biax and 42w triple twin tubes seem to be much more stable in color rendering ability and color temperature than CFLs with integrated ballasts.
3). Of course, the 55w biax fixtures will be a bit larger because the tubes are 21.5" long or so. A CFL fixture can be very small indeed (see my 30w fixture for instance which uses a halogen light fixture as its box.
4). You at least have the possibility of building dimming technology into a 55w biax or 42w triple twin tube fixture. The bulbs themselves are inherently capable of dimming--just a question of getting the right ballast and dimmer. Much harder to find CFLs with integrated ballasts that can dim. The largest I have seen is a 25w, but more common is the 20w and you can't really find anything but a 2700K color temp in those.
5). As you may have seen in other threads, you can get really big wattage CFLs now (up to 300w) and you may have also seen how I put these in softbox or chinese lanterns for diffusion. These can be had in both ballasted and separate ballast configs. Color temps vary a lot right now but ones we are interested in are coming available more and more.
6). Whatever you do, make sure you have barn doors, that will save you a bunch of time and headaches!
Hope this helps.
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tigeba said:Miracom,
Do you have any suggestions for dimmable ballasts for the 55w biax bulbs? So far I have found prices around $200 for a 2 bulb ballast and dimmer. I was figuring more around $150 or so, but I guess you pay what you have to pay
Keep an eye out on ebay, it's really your best friend for a lot of this stuff. However, I did find this, not much better than $200 but a bit:
http://www.goodmart.com/products/540990.htm
This is the advance mark 7 and is a control voltage type ballast which requires a special 0 - 10v dimmer to control it. $169. Terribly high! I'm looking for a better source but haven't found it yet!