The title of this blog doesn’t mean anything to you if you don’t know what ballasts are, so let’s start by explaining what they do and how they work. If you rely on fluorescent lighting, you rely on ballasts, because fluorescent lighting doesn’t work without them.
The ballast of a fluorescent lighting system controls the level of voltage in the electrical current that lights the lamp. Lamps would overheat and burn out if they received an unregulated amount of voltage from their power source, but ballasts keep the voltage at the appropriate level to prevent this from happening. Ballasts reduce the voltage to produce a steady output of light.1
If your lights have all burned out, it’s a sign of a ballast problem, and the solution is available from Ocean Coast Electric’s warehouse electricians, serving the Somerset County area of New Jersey. We can repair or replace the ballasts in your building, or install some money-saving upgrades.
Daylight dimming ballasts can save you money.
Depending on the natural lighting from windows or skylights available in your building, you may be wasting electricity by having the lights on at full power all day long if your only choices are “lights on” or “lights off.” That’s where ballasts can help, as they can brighten or dim your lights at intervals between full power (on) and no power (off) so that your lights are only as bright as they need to be.
These ballasts installations include sensors that can measure how much natural lighting a room has, and how bright the room’s fluorescent lighting should be. Then the ballasts give more or less power as needed, meaning no more wasted electricity. Daylight dimming ballasts keep your lights at full power at night, then lessen the brightness during the day, or even turn them off entirely if the natural lighting is sufficient.
While it’s true that fluorescent lighting produces less heat than incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lighting still produces heat that your building must devote energy to cooling. Less energy consumption from your lighting means less heat. This means that daylight dimming ballasts will also decrease your building’s cooling costs, saving you even more money.
For ballast repair or installation in your building, contact Ocean Coast Electric’s warehouse electricians, serving the Middlesex County area of New Jersey.
- https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightinganswers/adaptableballasts/ballast.asp.
