What is a ballast? A lighting ballast is a piece of equipment required to control the starting and operating voltages of electrical gas-discharge lights. Examples of gas-discharge light sources include fluorescent and neon lights and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. The term lighting ballast can refer to any component of the circuit intended to limit the flow of current through the light, from a single resistor to more complex devices. What is an electronic ballast? Electronic Ballasts are able to operate lamps at high frequencies because they utilize semi-conductor component circuitry instead of the traditional electro-magnetic transformer circuit operating at line frequency. Do electronic ballasts run cooler? Electronic ballasts generate less heat than electro-magnetic ballasts by using highly efficient semi-conductor circuitry. This saves money on air-conditioning costs. Are electronic ballasts lighter? Electronic ballasts are lighter in weight than electro-magnetic ballasts because they utilize semi-conductor circuitry instead of a transformer-based design. Are electronic ballasts cheaper to operate? Electronic ballasts pay for themselves over time because they use 10 to 30 per cent less energy than electro-magnetic ballasts to create the same amount of light. Do electronic ballasts provide flicker-free light? Electronic ballasts operate the lamps at more than 30kHz, where electro-magnetic ballasts operate at 60Hz. The high frequency operation prevents the stroboscopic effect and makes the light appear continuous to the human eye with no perceptible flickering. Do electronic ballasts make any noise? Because electronic ballasts do not have the auto transformer that is inherent to a electro-magnetic ballast, the characteristic "hum" of a magnetic ballast is not present in an electronic ballast. The electronic ballast generates a little noise, much less than a magnetic ballast for a similar application. Other factors, such as the lighting fixture and room characteristics affect the noise level

Ballast Factor (BF) This is the ratio of the light output of an ANSI standard reactor (ballast) to the light output of the ballast being rated for ballast factor. In simpler terms, simply multiply the Ballast Factor times the rated lumens of the lamp to get the light output of the lamp/ballast combination. Ballast Efficacy Factor: Measure of relative light delivered per watt consumed by a specific lamp/ballast combination. Crest Factor(CF): This is the ratio of the peak starting current to the operating current of a ballast. Generally ballasts are designed to have a crest factor less than 1.7 to ensure normal lamp life. Power Factor(PF): This is a measure of the actual power divided by the apparent power. A high power factor ballast has a PF above 90 per cent. The lower the power factor, the higher the current per watt required to operate the device. An advantage of a high power factor is that more devices can be used on the same size branch circuit . Harmonic Distortion(HD): Distortion of the supply line current (or voltage) created by non-linear loads including but not limited to all types of arc discharge lighting.

HID (High Intensity Discharge) Technical Guide "High Intensity Discharge" (HID) is a broad term used to describe any lighting system using a gaseous discharge arc lamp in which the gas-filled arc tube operates at several times the normal atmospheric pressure, compared to the near vacuum conditions in lamps. The various types of HID lamps are categorized and named by the type of gas contained within the arc tube. The electrical arc produced between the two main electrodes of a HID lamp is much like a runaway short circuit, which can be sustained indefinitely. Once sufficient voltage is present, the gases within the arc tube are "ionized" to where they will conduct the arc current. Arc formation is not an immediate process. It can take several seconds for the arc to be established and several minutes until full light output is reached. HID lamps are a negative-impedance device. This means that unless controlled, the current would continue to increase, causing the lamp to fail almost instantly after starting. For this reason, a ballast, which is a current-limiting device, must be used with every HID lamp. The ballast serves three functions. First, it provides the proper starting voltage to establish the arc. Second, it supplies the proper voltage to operate the lamp. Third, the ballast limits the lamp current to a prescribed level.

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