Bulb Ballast

A Bulb Ballast (i.e. HPS Ballast) is used with an electric discharge light bulb to ensure the correct voltage, current and waveform for staring and operating the bulb. (i.e. HPS Bulb). All HID and fluorescent bulbs need a ballast to operate.

Ballasts have two primary functions:

• Starting the Bulb.
• Control the operation of  bulb once it is running.

Electronic Ballast (i.e. T8 Ballast) are much more efficient and do not cause as much Audible Noise as a magnetic ballast. Electronic ballast have better power qualities as well.

An electrical ballast is a product that is intended to limit the amount and control the current in an electric circuit.

Ballasts vary vastly in complexity. Many ballasts can be as simple as a series resistor used in LED’s. In applications that require higher-power, a lot of energy would be not be used in a resistive ballast and there for not be efficient and a lot of power would be lost. Ballasts can be quite complex as the computerized, remote-controlled electronic ballasts are becoming popular with fluorescent lamps (i.e. T5 Ballasts) to control the output and test the ballast for operational life.