Fluroscent bulb chokes

I am very puzzled. I have never head of a Fluorescent Bulb "Choke." I consider myself fairly educated in in the fluorescent lighting field. Are you referring to ballasts?

Same thing.... ballasts are also called chokes......( Tap-faucet thing...) visit this site for details... http://members.misty.com/don/f-lamp.html Good luck !! Chaterpilar

"Same thing.... ballasts are also called chokes......( Tap-faucet thing...) visit this site for details... http://members.misty.com/don/f-lamp.html Good luck !! Chaterpilar"

All the fluorescent lamps I know of require a ballast to match.

Sorry chaterpilar, I forgot to thank you. It was an excellent link. Thanks for your contribution.

The choke uses a coil of wire on an iron core to limit current by inductive reactance.

A choke is a two wire inductor that is used with a starter or a push button to initially put current through the heaters then disconnect them at which point an inductive kick from the choke fires the plasma

A ballast is a specially configured transformer that runs the heaters full time, limits the current end to end and produces a high voltage to ground to ionize the gas.

The problem with using a choke rated for a larger lamp is that it would likely not limit the current to an appropriate level for the lower wattage lamp. Conversely, too small a choke may not provide adequate current for a larger lamp or might overheat.

A choke is also a ballast since ballast refers to its function. It is a choke type ballast different from a transformer ballast that has two power leads and four lamp leads for each lamp. The case of the transformer ballast must be connected to a metal fixture in which the lamp is mounted. The lamp will not fire if it is not in proximity to the metal fixture when using a transformer type ballast.

If you are insistent on presenting lectures on chokes vs. ballasts reread the OP and answer the question asked. It should not be too difficult to deciper the meaning of the question instead of taking off on a tangent.

Sisra is doing his best to inquire about ISSUES WITH FLUORESCENT BALLASTS WHICH HE DESCRIBES AS CHOKES !

We all need to be careful about our responses to such questions which only muck-up the responses and confuse the OP.

the ballast and lamp load should match within reason.

Too big a ballast for a lamp = high lamp current and electrodes sputter off and gradually blacken the tube starting from the ends.

Too small a ballast overheats the ballast and can lead to saturation and excess ballast current. Most ballasts must have a thermal link in them as there used to be many ballast fires from the hot melted tar encapsulant emerging and burning??

http://www.richieburnett.co.uk/inductr.html

Hi everybody,

Thanks a lot for all your contributions.

Ballst or choke.. well now it is understood..

Well BabyGuiness.. I think you should be more appropriately titled MasterGuiness! your explanation was very helpful.

My application is T5 tubes 6W, 8W, 14W, 16W,24W etc.

I think I should not try to invent wheel. I will try to stick to already proven designs which are commercially available. (such as Osram you mentioned). Are there any other brands you are aware of?

Thanks once again.

Sisira