SOX on fluorescent gear

neosodium · **Posted:** Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:12 pm

Looking into turning an old pie dish type outdoor light into an 18 W SOX fitting. It already has a ceramic lampholder and plenty of space inside but I'm without any 18 W gear.

I noticed 18 W electronic fluorescent ballasts are fairly inexpensive, and I have seen and heard of people running SOX lamps on fluorescent gear, but are there any things that need to be considered when doing such?

neosodium · **Posted:** Tue Sep 20, 2011 5:39 pm

No one know anything about this? Might just try it and find out if nobody can see anything wrong with the idea :idea:

inkubate · **Posted:** Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:03 pm

The ballast works fine , but I'm not sure how well they ignite with a fluorescent starter. Getting hold of a proper ignitor would be best like SX26.

thorncollector · **Posted:** Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:11 pm

Hello All,
Yes a 18/20w flourescent ballast runs at 0.37 A the same as a 18w sox.
A SX26 ignitor would be fine

I have run this combo myself and its fine

Best regards John

neosodium · **Posted:** Sun Oct 09, 2011 7:55 am

In the absence of an SX26 ignitor, are there any easier to acquire components that would be suitable?

Phosco152 · **Posted:** Sun Oct 09, 2011 8:00 am

You can use a conventional fluorescent tube starter although the electronic type is better than the glow type. Connect the starter across the 2 lamp terminals.

neosodium · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:27 pm

IIRC the electronic ballasts have a starter built in, would this be suitable?

Also I know SLI can be glowstarted because the coils are connected the same as on fluorescent, but how would a glow starter work with a SOX bulb? Considering it only has 2 contacts, the coils can't be used as preheat filaments.

inkubate · **Posted:** Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:15 pm

The starter goes in parallel with the lamp and there is no need to pre-heat the electrodes. The short circuit when the starter closes builds up magnetic energy in the ballast which is released as a high voltage pulse when the starter opens again. Once running the voltage drop will fall across the lamp and not the starter causing it stop switching.

Well thats the theory (I think within reason). I've not tried this in practice!

Chris

Phosco152 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:50 am

neosodium wrote:

IIRC the electronic ballasts have a starter built in, would this be suitable?

Should be althought I haven't tried it.

inkubate wrote:

The starter goes in parallel with the lamp and there is no need to pre-heat the electrodes. The short circuit when the starter closes builds up magnetic energy in the ballast which is released as a high voltage pulse when the starter opens again. Once running the voltage drop will fall across the lamp and not the starter causing it stop switching.

Well thats the theory (I think within reason). I've not tried this in practice!

Chris

Yes, exactly that and this is how I do it.

neosodium · **Posted:** Wed Oct 19, 2011 12:55 pm

Phosco152 wrote:

inkubate wrote:

The starter goes in parallel with the lamp and there is no need to pre-heat the electrodes. The short circuit when the starter closes builds up magnetic energy in the ballast which is released as a high voltage pulse when the starter opens again. Once running the voltage drop will fall across the lamp and not the starter causing it stop switching.

Well thats the theory (I think within reason). I've not tried this in practice!

Chris

Yes, exactly that and this is how I do it.

This wouldn't work on an electronic ballast then, would it?

Only I can't find any magnetic 18w ballasts on ebay...

SOX on fluorescent gear

Who is online