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

Because magnetic ballasts are essential to fluorescent lamp operation, they have been available for as long as the lamps they start and regulate. Throughout most of their history, fluorescent ballasts have been electromagnetic. As a result of their design, these ballasts are also called “core & coil” ballasts.

The primary component of an electromagnetic ballast is a core of stacked steel laminations around which insulated copper or aluminum coils are wound. This core & coil design functions both as a voltage transformer and a current-limiting choke. As heat produced by the ballast’s operation can eventually break down the insulation around the coils and cause failure, the core and coil is “potted” in insulating material such as asphalt to conduct heat away from the coils. This assembly is usually housed in a steel case.

Magnetic ballast are also called inductive or electromagnetic ballasts. Magnetic Ballasts us an aluminum coil wrapped around an iron core to generate and regulate voltage. Since 1988 congress has regulated the efficacy factors of magnetic ballasts (making magnetic ballasts much more efficient). Despite regulations determining efficiency of magnetic ballast, they are still considered the least efficient types of fluorescent ballasts. Although magnetic ballasts are still very common, over the next several years manufactures will begin to phase out magnetic ballasts for electronic ballasts. Magnetic ballasts are susceptible to humming and flickering. Magnetic ballasts operate T12 lamps (including bi-pin, single-pin, and high output), some T8 lamps, and 2-pin compact fluorescent lamps. Magnetic ballasts are available in 1 and 2 lamp configurations.

The capacitor of an electromagnetic ballast improves its power factor, so it can utilize energy more efficiently. An electromagnetic ballast that is equipped with a capacitor is considered to be a high power factor or power factor corrected ballast.

Fluorescent ballasts are available as Preheat, Lead Lag, Series Sequence and Rapid Start designs.