compact Flourescent 13 W

[David Wee]

I was looking into compact flourescents, (its the two pin system on a
sort of "u-tube" type bulb), instead of a left and right electrode on a
straight standard flourescents. I noticed that the home depot had no
ballasts for these compact flourescents, but had outdoor kits (for home
security / wherehouses/ outside, etc) that had ballasts as part of their
system for
about $29 and ran the 42W compact floursescnet which would basically be
over 250 or 300Watts of mega lighting for less than $40, its just that the
wiring was not a plug but a postiive, negative and ground.

Can you just buy a three prong plug/wire system (like for a few dollars),
splice the wires and plug it in?

Also as a second related question, anyone know where i can get a 13W
compact ballast for cheap?


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[David Wee]

I also was wondering if anyone knew about this ballast
http://www.harringtonlights.com/ballasts/compact_fluorescent_ballasts.htm

its $8.86, its a good deal if it can support multiple 13Ws (which is the
whole point)


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[Donovan Niewoehner]

Yes you can simply splice the power in that way. green is usually ground,
black is "hot". Just make shure your splicing method is safe. You want a
well wired/grounded system when you are using electricity around water.
I just finished a DIY hood/ballast system, it's a huge moneysaver.

--donovan

[David Wee]

Ah yes, that is the sort of thing im talking about. However, yesterday I
did some research on sci.engr.lighting and i was able to find such items

(1)
Web Site:
http://www.bulbs.com/products/product.asp?page=ballasts&class=804

" LC-13-TP
Advance Ballast Magnetic, Lights One 2-pin 13-watt Plug-in Compact
Fluorescent Lamp w/ GX23 Base, 120 Input Volts, LAMP(S) NOT INCLUDED"

$4.49


and

(2)
http://www.bulbs.com/products/product.asp?page=ballasts&class=740

" REL-4P32-SC
Advance Ballast Electronic, 4 Lamp Ballast, For Use with F17T8,
F25T8 or F32T8 Lamps with 120V Input , LAMP(S) NOT INCLUDED"

for the noncompact route as well (4 F17T8's!)

$29.99

and finally
(3)
http://www.bulbs.com/products/product.asp?page=ballasts&class=803

which lists CFL ballasts (theres a few that run double 42W compact
flourescents for about $50)



I was wondering however, is the "effective" wattage in a compact higher
than standard linear tube?


In article >,
AC/DCdude17 > wrote:
>X-No-Archive: Yes
>
>David Wee wrote:
>
>> Also as a second related question, anyone know where i can get a 13W
>> compact ballast for cheap?
>
> I am by no mean endorsing this user, but eBay is your friend when you want
>something you can't find at Home Depot and too expensive at electrical
>supplier. Take a look at this one:
>
>http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2322546515&category=29510
>
>You can also find some hard to find stuff by cleverly using the search.
>
>You can find electronic CFL ballast for pretty good price too if you use the
>right search keywords at the right time.
>


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