#Nlo ballast full
#Nlo ballast series

Today, they’re especially popular options for use in downlights and display lighting setups. Whether they’re being used in industrial applications, as grow lights, around the home or anywhere else, LED lamps are generally chosen for their superior quality and consistency of light output - as well as their excellent economy when it comes to long-term running costs. Without a ballast in place as part of the circuitry, the result would be a bulb that either burned out or shattered almost immediately or - in the best case scenario - suffered a drastically reduced lifespan. Although various bulb types require an initial boost of electrical current in order to be switched on successfully, allowing them to keep pulling this level of power from the wall for long would mean they very quickly got too hot and suffered serious damage.

#Nlo ballast full

The second, equally important job of a ballast is to regulate current after this switch-on phase, such that the lamp itself doesn’t continue to draw the full available voltage from mains power the entire time it’s in use.

By allowing mains voltage to supply this initial ‘boost’ immediately after the user flicks a switch, sufficient current is able to jump across and complete an arc between the two electrodes in the lamp, giving light. The first important role of the ballast is to ensure that enough voltage is provided when switching on the luminaire to fire it up at the beginning. In a sense, it performs similarly to how a car’s engine works during ignition and subsequent idling. It gives a boost when we want to arc the light and power it on, then pulls back this initial high current flow to a more sedate level once lit.

#Nlo ballast series

This gives fluorescent and HID luminaires the potential for complete dimming functionality, operated much like the dimmer systems regularly found on simpler incandescent light bulbs.įor a simplified overview of how a light ballast works as part of a series of in-fixture lighting connectors, think of it as being a two-job component. When used in conjunction with a dimmer, certain ballast type can also regulate adjustable user-defined power draw and light output levels. The core role of a lighting ballast is to help control and regulate the supplied current during different operating phases (and voltages) for certain bulb types.īoth during their switch-on (peak power draw) phase and in prolonged use (lower, more tightly regulated current), some types of luminaire require an additional component to control the flow of power properly - in short, this additional component is the lighting ballast. In essence, a ballast is a type of electrical resistor or reactance, fixed in-line with the circuits that supply mains power to a light bulb. If you’ve ever walked by a standing light fixture or ceiling batten and heard a low humming or buzzing sound, it’s likely that what you were listening to was the ballast doing its job! But what exactly is a light ballast, and what is it doing while you use the light?

Without ballasts to control current flow at varying voltages, we’d never see these familiar fluorescents or HID luminaires jump into life - or stay lit for long before burning themselves out.

The majority is presented in the working languages.Lighting ballasts are a key feature of many fluorescent, HID and some LED lamps that allow current to be regulated to suit the lamp type. Some content on this site is available in all official languages. The working languages are English, French and Spanish. The official languages of IMO are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Disclaimer: IMO has endeavoured to make the information on this website as accurate as possible but cannot take responsibility for any errors.