Gas discharge lamps ( 80 ) :

• Fluorescent lights

• General information

• A guide to Fluorescent Lighting Ballasts   
• Are fluorescent bulbs really more efficient than normal light bulbs?   
• Avoiding Mistakes in Ballast Choices   
• Ballast Circuit Types - Three major types of lighting system circuits are in use today for electromagnetic ballasts: Preheat, Slimline Instant Start and Rapid Start. With the introduction of hybrid and electronic ballasts, two new circuits were introduced: Modified Rapid Start and Instant Start of Rapid Start Lamps. Circuit examples are mainly for lamps for 110V AC lamps.   
• Fluorescent Blacklights - There are fluorescent tubes that emit UV. The phosphor coating on the inner surface of the tube absorbs the UVC emitted by the low pressure mercury arc, and emits longer UV wavelengths. There are at least six different UV-emitting phosphors used in fluorescent lamps. One common lamp is the ""BLB" fluorescent lamp. The tubing is made from a very deep violet-blue glass known as "Wood's glass". The "BLB" lamps are used for special effects due to their ability to make fluorescent objects glow very brightly.   
• Black Light Basics - The many styles and sizes of black lights that are available often make people confused. Hopefully the text on these pages, which was compiled from a number of sources, will answer many of the most common questions regarding Black Light.   
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs - what are they and how they work   
• Compact fluorescent Light Bulbs - One of the best ways to save money on your lighting bill is to switch from standard incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs, use fluorescent light technology in a compact size that can be used in place of standard light bulbs.   
• Dimming Fluorescent Lamps   
• Fluorescent Lamps, Ballasts, and Fixtures   
• Fluorescent light bulbs, lamps and fixtures - fluorescent lamp FAQ   
• Fluorescent Lighting Safety - Although fluorescent lighting is an efficient source of light, it does have some safety issues. Understanding these issues can help guide the selection of the best types of fixture, lamp and location that can avoid many of these issues.   
• How Black Lights Work - The conventional black light design is just a fluorescent lamp with a couple of important modifications. A tube black light is a basically a fluorescent lamp with a different sort of phosphor coating. This coating absorbs harmful shortwave UV-B and UV-C light and emits UV-A light. UVA light has wavelength of 320-400 nanometers (typically around 360 nanometers). Typically about 2% of the total input power of fluorescent black light lamps can be emitted in the visible 380 - 760 nm band.   
• Inrush current in fluorescent light systems - a technical overview of the subject, covers bot magnetic and electronic ballasts   
• Loisteputken korjausohje - how to repair fluorescent tubes and fluorescent lights, text in Finnish     
• Lumen Output vs. Power Input For Fluorescent Sources - This curve shows the relationship of fluorecent lamp light output to power consumed by high frequency dimming ballast.   
• Neon and fluorescent lights explained   
• Purpose of a Ballast - fluorescent lamps cannot be connected directly to the power line, they need a ballast to operate   
• The Fluorescent Lighting System - Fluorescent lighting is a popular and efficient lighting system used worldwide. This set of documents describe how fluorescent lighting systems work and how to select the best brightness, energy efficiency, color, and size that various fluorescent lighting systems provide.   
• Troubleshooting fluorescent lights   
• Ultraviolet and UV Lamps   
• UV Lighting - UV light is required by most animals and plants, and each of the three types of UV light are used for different purposes.     
   

• Lamp data

• Comprehensive Fluorescent Tube Data   
• Lamp information - brand names and most common types are listed for three major lamp producers     
   

• Other technical information

• ICs turn cost-sensitive consumer products into sophisticated systems - For more than two decades, transistors have helped to boost fluorescent-lamp efficiency and life. Now ICs, some containing �P cores, are adding features and sophistication that few users ever dreamed of.   
   

• Circuits

   

• 12VDC Fluorescent Lamp Driver - This fluorescent lamp driver uses a normal 120 to 6V stepdown transformer in reverse to step 12V to about 350V to drive a lamp without the need to warm the filaments.   
• 1 watt fluorescent lamp night light - simple circuit that operates from 120V AC, uses cold cathode 1W fluorescent lamp and RC network for current limiting, pdf file   
• 1W Fluorescent lamp night light - This is a very simple circuit that powers small 1W cold cathode fluorescent light form 120V AC   
• 40W Fluorescent Lamp Inverter - This 40W fluorescent lamp inverter allows you to run 40W fluorescent tubes from any 12V source capable of delivering 3A.   
• 5W fluorescent lamp intensity modulator - circuit hits the small lamp with narrow 1us pulses at a rate of 10KHz, each pulse launches about 10 watts of visible light, lamp starting method is a bit crude, pdf file     
• 5W Fluorescent light intensity modulator   
• Compact Ballast -     
• Neon Desklamp - This circuit will power a 6 inch 4 Watt fluorescent tube off a 12 volt supply, consuming 300 mA. It may also be powered by a suitably rated universal AC/DC adapter.     
• Driving a fluorescent tube - runs small fluorescent tube on DC current, powered from 230V mains     
• Dual monostable drives quasiresonant inverter - circuit to power a fluorescent lamp from 12V     
• Electronic Ballasts Using the Cost-Saving IR215X Drivers     
• Flourecent Ballast Design using Passive PFC and Crest Factor Control - also available in     
• Half-bridge inverter has variable frequency - modern electronic ballasts require added features, such as high-frequency preheat for filaments, nominal lamp-power control, and light-dimming capability, because output inverter operates in resonant mode, you can control the power or current of these ballasts simply by varying the switching frequency     
• Inverter Circuits - circuits for driving fluorescent light bulf from low voltage source, most reverse engineered from commercial products     
• Linear Ballast -     
• Neon Desklamp - power a 6 inch 4 Watt fluorescent tube off a 12 volt supply    
• Powering fluorescent lamps from low voltage DC! - inverter circuits     
• Preheat starter for electronic ballast - Electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps use various techniques to turn on the bulbs. The design usually involves a compromise between turn-on voltage and lamp life because the two are inversely related. One way to reach a reasonable compromise is to initially allow a momentary inrush current to warm the filaments, followed by a series of interrupted short circuits across the lamp that generate the required high voltage to trigger the fluorescent. With a preheated filament, the necessary strike potential reduces to half.     
• Simple applications of neon glow lamps: The main voltage monitor - simply a lamp that glows when the main voltage is present     
• Switching regulator controls CCFT - you can control the current in a cold-cathode fluorescent tube (CCFT) and, hence, its brightness with a switching-regulator IC  
• Switching regulator controls CCFT - You can control the current in a cold-cathode fluorescent tube (CCFT) and, hence, its brightness with a switching-regulator IC.
• UV-Belichtungsgeraet - UV-Light-Source with tubes, text in German     
   

• Neon lights

• Applications of neon glow lamps - some applications of neon glow lamps     
• Everything you ever wanted to know about NEON: The Neon Frequently Asked Questions List     
• Neon and fluorescent lights explained     
• NE-2 Neon Bulb Data - This page has data non many NE-2 neon bulb types.     
• NE-2 Neon Bulb Picture and Data     
• Neon-L (The Neon Mail List Server) - Technical discussion group for neon folks and people interested in neon     
• Neon News - neon lamps newsletter     
• Neon Transformer Size Calculator - This page computes approximate transformer requirements for one tube, or a series of tubes (of different diameters and/or gases).     
• Neon University     
• Make a Cheapo Neon PSU - A simple but incredibly reliable way to get a touch of neon around your workshop. This unit is designed to work directly from 240V AC mains power. It basically consists of two diode/capacitor voltage multipliers and a couple of current limiting resistors. The most important is probably the fact that it drives the tube with DC. This design cannot drive neon tubes that are actually charged solely with neon.     
• The Book of Neon - A Guide to Neon Information     
• The Neon Demo Page - Neon Making Demos from Krypton Neon     
• The Neon Frequently Asked Questions List     
   

• Metal halide lamps

• A Life Story - Metal Halide Lamps     
• Color Temperature of Metal Halide Lamps     
   

• HID lamps

• A guide to High Intensity Ballasts - 500 kilobyte pdf file     
• An Electronic Ballast (Inverter) to Power HID Lamps from 12 Volts DC! - a circuit that can be used to power a variety of small (50 w or less) HID lamps, as well as (with modifications) fluorescent lamps up to about 40w, or HeNe lasers, flashes/strobes, and neon tubes, etc., from a 12 V car or marine battery or medium-size gel cell.     
• DIY Metal Halide Lighting System     
• Introduction to HID Lighting     
• Lamp/Ballast Specifications for High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lamps for General Lighting Applications     
• Metal Halide Lights DIY Questions and Answers     
   

• Xenon lamps

• Arc lamps power supplies     
• Continuously and apparantly continuously operating xenon lamps     
   

• Other gas discharge lights

• Advance Transformer Balast Technical Center - information related to lamp ballasts     
• Everything you wanted to know about Xenon Bulbs - Cinema Systems is glad in Ray Boegner telling you all, about the dark secrets of lighting the screen with xenon technology.     
• Gas discharge lamps, ballasts and fixtures     
• Leading lamps: The lighting market embraces electrodeless technology - electrodeless lamp uses magnetic induction, instead of an electrode at each end of the fluorescent tube, to produce illumination     
• Some Bits of Discharge Lamp Theory and Other Technical Information!     
• Various notes on carbon arcs     
   

• Circuits

   

• 12VDC Fluorescent Lamp Driver - simple circuit to drive fluorescent lamp from 12V power source     
• Black Light power supply - power black light or any other small fluorescent tube from 6V battery     
• Electronic Ballasts using the Cost-Saving IR215X - application note AN-995 from     
• Plasma Fire Saber - special kinfd of gas discharge lamp, for more ideas take a also look at     

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