powerplay
Senior Member
- Location
- In front of a computer.
Is switching an flourescent ballast with about 24' of HO tubes with an 15 amp breaker a bad idea? I was reading that 15-20 amp breakers are tested with tuingsten and inductive ballasts and acceptable for switching, but resetting a breaker doesn't seem to "snap" into place to reduce "arcing" on the contact point inside the breaker. I am thinking of installing a 20 amp single pole switch after the breaker to make it easier... and the "snap" of the switch would arc less than the breaker and last longer?
The tubes are quite bright, and do not take long to reach full brightness, but they say it doesn't always work. A couple tubes are a bit dark on the end, but would an decent ballast not fire if a bit of tube is dark?...I am thinking the ballast is weak.. but when they show the problem to me, it seems to flip on without an issue! ...maybe tubes need to warm up because of a weak ballast?
The tubes are quite bright, and do not take long to reach full brightness, but they say it doesn't always work. A couple tubes are a bit dark on the end, but would an decent ballast not fire if a bit of tube is dark?...I am thinking the ballast is weak.. but when they show the problem to me, it seems to flip on without an issue! ...maybe tubes need to warm up because of a weak ballast?