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There are four major reasons electronic ballasts are superior to electromagnetic ballasts:

Increased light output increased ¨C Electronic ballasts increase the mean lumen output of HID lamps. A 400 W metal halide lamp operated with an electronic ballast produced 15% more light output after 8,000 hours than the same lamp with an electromagnetic ballast.Use less energy to operate ¨C A typical magnetic ballast for a 400 W metal halide lamp consumes 50¨C70 W, whereas an electronic ballast consumes as little as 5¨C20 W.

Lamp life is up to 30% longer ¨C Electronic ballasts keep MH lamps brighter for a longer period of time than the same lamps with magnetic ballasts, which lowers lamp replacement costs and makes them practical for high-bay, indoor applications.

Provide dimming option ¨C Electronic ballasts with dimming provide additional savings when full light output is not required. Some electronic ballasts are continuously dimmable down to 50% of lamp power.

Maintaining an optimum electrode temperature is the key to long lamp life. Thus, some ballasts have a separate circuit that provides a low voltage to heat the lamp electrodes during lamp starting and typically during lamp operation (Hammer, 1995).

 

To realize complete rated light output and rated lamp life from a fluorescent lighting system, a ballast¡¯s output characteristics must precisely match the electrical requirements of the lamps it operates. Traditionally, ballasts are made to manage a specific number (usually one to four) and type of lamp (such as a four-foot T8 lamp) at a specific voltage (in North America either 120, 277, or 347 volts). Thus, to find a ballast suitable for a specific luminaire (lighting fixture), lamp type, lamp quantity, and line voltage must all be known.Other advantages of electronic ballasts include:

 

improved efficiency and color stability lower warm-up and restrike times smaller size and lower weight much less lamp flicker less lamp noise improved lumen maintenance elimination of harmonic distortion in the supply current

the capacity to operate multiple luminaires off one ballast

Probe- and pulse-start ballasts,When lamps are cold, the ballast¡¯s operating voltage may not be enough to create an arc and rely on two primary starting methods: probe-start and pulse-start ballasts

 

Magnetic metal halide lamps use probe-start, electromagnetic ballasts technology, which employs the use of two operating electrodes and a third, starting probe electrode in the arc tube.

 

Probe-start ballasts start lamps if it discharges a high open circuit voltage between the starting probe and one of the operating electrodes. Once the lamp is started, a bi-metal switch turns off the starting probe electrode from the circuit.Market demand for probe-start ballasts began to wane once industry realized the third electrode and other moving parts such as the switch led to inconsistencies in the lamp is lumen and color output over their lifetimes.

 

The development of pulse-start electronic and electromagnetic ballasts, which create arcs by generating a high-voltage pulse using a circuit called an igniter, also moved industry away from probe-start ballasts.Benefits of pulse start Metal Halide lamps,A metal halide lamp using an electronic ballast is about 70% more energy efficient than typical standard HID electromagnetic ballasts with probe-start metal halide lamps.