Original poster: Steve Conner <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
At 00:09 08/05/05 -0600, you wrote:
Original poster: "Gerald Reynolds" <gerryreynolds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I'll reply to my own reply.
Maybe what I'm missing is: if I increase the area to prevent
saturation, the inductance goes back up so maybe this is self defeating.
Yes. That's exactly what the issue is. If you design a gapless ballast so
it won't saturate, then the inductance will be too high to let any decent
current flow. If you design it with low enough inductance to pass your
desired current, it will saturate too early.
If you want a practical demonstration, try ballasting a fluorescent lamp
with a transformer primary instead of the proper ballast. No matter what
you do, you can't find a tapping point that makes it work, it goes
straight from a dim flickering light to saturating and burning the lamp
out. Well that's what happened when I tried it. YMMV especially with a
poor quality transformer like a MOT (these have a small air gap due to
their welded construction)
Steve Conner