Re:The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy
by blattimwind on Tuesday March 06, 2018 @04:13AM
(#16527774)
Your information is out of date by a few decades or so.
Ballast + starter is completely outdated and the only reason you still see them is in places where they don't care about energy costs and because hardware stores still sell them (along all the other junk products found in hardware stores) — they are marginally cheaper.
Combine a fluorescent tube with a hot-start electronic ballast and you get lights that are cheaper than LEDs with similar efficiency and light quality (depending on the tubes), but lower eco-footprint and lower running costs (tubes are ~1-1.5 € each). Electronic ballasts are extremely reliable and have been on the market long enough to back such claims up.
Hot-start EVG doesn't turn on quite as fast as LEDs; they take about 0.5 seconds. They never flicker.
Ballast + starter is completely outdated and the only reason you still see them is in places where they don't care about energy costs and because hardware stores still sell them (along all the other junk products found in hardware stores) — they are marginally cheaper.
Combine a fluorescent tube with a hot-start electronic ballast and you get lights that are cheaper than LEDs with similar efficiency and light quality (depending on the tubes), but lower eco-footprint and lower running costs (tubes are ~1-1.5 € each). Electronic ballasts are extremely reliable and have been on the market long enough to back such claims up.
Hot-start EVG doesn't turn on quite as fast as LEDs; they take about 0.5 seconds. They never flicker.