China manufacturer of magnetic ballasts for metal halide flood lights & hps flood lights

All gas discharge lamps, including fluorescent lamps, require a ballast to operate. fluorescent magnetic and electronic ballasts are intended to operate an average of 50 000 hours (at maximum rated case temperature). The useful life of a fluorescent ballast depends on the daily hours of operation and the operating temperature, the latter being the most critical. It is important to note that increasing the operating temperature by 10°C will cut the life expectancy in half, and lowering it by 10°C, will double ballast life.

The ballast provides a high initial voltage to initiate the discharge, then rapidly limits the lamp current to safely sustain the discharge. Lamp manufacturers specify lamp electrical input characteristics (lamp current, starting voltage, current crest factor, etc.)Crest factor is the ratio of the peak current value divided by the RMS current value. High current crest factors will reduce the life of the lamp. Many STANDARD electronic types of ballasts have low crest factors.

Ballasts are designed to optimally operate a unique lamp type; however, some ballasts will adequately operate more than one type of lamp. In these cases, optimum lamp performance is generally not achieved under all conditions. Less than optimum conditions may affect the lamp's starting characteristics, light output, and operating life.