Flourescent lighting 1

[badboyuk]

I have a problem with a batch of flouresecnt lights with LG3 Diffusers installed on a steel clad insulated ceiling.
On inspection the wiring around the choke/ballasts tends to be brittle and cracked. The terminals on the choke are brown in colour. Quite strange is how the red phase wiring is also cracked and brittle and the blck neutral cable is unaffected. The installation is about 3 years old the starter is also becoming brown.
As the risk of fire is greatly increased has anyone else had simiar problems please advise ???

 

[ScottyUK]

Have seen something very similar on enclosed fluorescent luminaires to IP54 where the fittings started to smoulder around the ballast. The problem basically came down to cheap crappy fittings equipped with cheap crappy ballasts. We ditched the fittings and went to better a quality type with electronic ballasts. No more problems.


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I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy it...

 

[itsmoked]

badboyuk; Here's some other points.

The rule of thumb is that for every 10 degrees higher, the speed of a chemical reaction doubles. So if something is heating the other wires say, a measly ten degrees higher, then essentially(chemically) the black wire is only half as old! It may end up looking the same in twice the time.

Also black is the best radiator of heat. Substantially better than any and all other colors. This means you could actually expect the black to be a little cooler.

And lastly the black formulation may just happen to be a more durable color.

Summation: I wouldn't read too much into the fact that the black wires don't look as bad as the rest.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[badboyuk]

One suggestion was that the Light output of the lamp shining onto the red phase cable has a deteriorating effect in the form of ultra-violet radiation?
Which is due to slighting "open" design of surface mounted 6ft LG3 luminaire.

 

[BrianR]

While I agree that heat is almost certainly the culprit with the failing lamp components, it is not correct to say that black wires radiate heat better than other colours. Perhaps a few percent but thats all. It's more likely that the pigment used to make wire black has better survival characteristics at elevated temperatures.

For general interest, in the 8-14 micron infrared range, (<100 degC) the emissivity of PVC is 0.91 - 0.93 and matte black lacquer paint is 0.97 while white lacquer is 0.92, only 5% different. The pigment and surface in most other paints fall around these values too.

 

[itsmoked]

Thanks for the knowledge update Brian.

What do you have to say about 'Flour' escent?

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[BrianR]

Too floury for my taste...

 

[itsmoked]

!!!

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com