Tabelec 'LEL Multipulse' Starters

[Ash]

It could be only a resistor or two difference from the "155/500" version. Easy conversion then

[sailormoon_01_uk]

these are good Starters I have one in my kitchen Light (5ft 58w Fitzy), they are also Ideal for Pre-heating the 60 watt SLI/H (Linear) Sodium Lamp too to prolong the lamp life.

[Liam]

I have to disagree with you all here, i've had 4 of these fail on me over the years, 2 went into stuck starter mode and melted the outer case and stunk the other was left with an EOL T12 for about an hour and as soon as i stuck a new tube in BANG and the last one only started sometimes and other times it didn't do anything, turns out even know it didn't light the tube the pins and case was getting scolding hot and ended up melting my starter socket....Dangerous things...

[fluorescent]

Were they LEL's or EFS600's Liam? And how old/when did you buy them?

[Danny]

I’ve had better luck with the LELs than the EFS600s. But I’ve had failures and violent failures from both but the LEL seem better than the Arlens. One of their starters I really do not like are the Fastlux 300C also the EFS200 and EFS300 they are MURDERERS

[fluorescent]

Why are they 'murderers', no preheating?

Edit: just looked it up, EFS300's are rapid start offering only 0.3s preheating so will kill tubes faster. It would seem the other types aren't manufactured any more but are probably similar.

I'm not sure why you'd need to save 1.9 seconds (compared to an EFS600) at the expense of killing tubes quick?

[Danny]

Them fastlux type of ones are the ones I REALLY hate I can’t stand those at all. They have killed a few of my tubes which I have here. (although useless now) by blowing the cathodes clean out. The UM2 and UM3 seem fine though I’d trust those over EFS 120/600s., but again as Liam says I’ve had those LEL fail too. Interestingly only the red etched UM2

I would never ever pulse start any tubes other than T5-T8. Never T12.

Back in the early days I remember everyone litterally creaming their pants over them Thorn Vivaton 5 fastlux starters. I got my hands on some and they are fucking dog shite. They are useless they don’t even strike the tubes! I don’t see what is so interesting about those apart from the colour!

However the Thorn Fluoropulse and SB FLUOROPULSE they seem alright I like those.

I used to love pulsestarters years ago until an EFS600 explodesd in my hand on test! Dangerous

[Ash]

Why are they 'murderers', no preheating?

Edit: just looked it up, EFS300's are rapid start offering only 0.3s preheating so will kill tubes faster. It would seem the other types aren't manufactured any more but are probably similar.

I'm not sure why you'd need to save 1.9 seconds (compared to an EFS600) at the expense of killing tubes quick?

A year ago i modded a 2xE27 luminaire (that was running 23W E27 CFLs) to 26W PL-C's, with VS HF ballast added in the luminaire. The ballast takes about 2..2.5 sec to preheat before start. It is great that it does, but... When family members were used to the instant starting of the CFLs and this changed, i could swear i seen "What the Fuck" sort of reactions nearly every time during those 2 seconds, that it does not light up. The fact that there isn't any sign of life at all from it (the cathode glow of the PL's on this ballast isn't bright) doesn't help either

There is a Fluorescent luminaire which i put in a shed in the farm where my ballast stuff is. It didnt have lighting, and the lighting i installed in it is a hack done in a hurry - 2x36 strip wired with some random flex to extension cables, only one tube fitted in it, i haven't even bothered to close the gear cover, switching on/off by plugging into the extension cable (that is left live). I put in some random Osram st111 starter that i had rolling around. This starter is slow (most st111's aren't, only this one). I had myself few "WTF" moments when plugging the plug into the extension and not seeing any reaction for what looks like eternity (few sec), normally being used atleast to hear some pinging or see lamp flashing or starting to glow in the ends... When switching it on at night (without light coming through the door), it can be seen that the starter starts glowing right away, and very weakly (probably a very worn and blackened starter)

All those fast starters are there to prevent those WTF moments. However, i think that if the tube starts glowing in the ends right away, then it provides sufficient feedback to switching on to not be a WTF moment

[Liam]

It was the older ones with the GB GE/Thorn Cases prob from around late 90's to early 2000's. i got given them by my primary school caretaker.

[Cobster]

I've just had my first LEL 'Multipulse' type starter fail. It was in a 2' fixture which sees very regular switching, several times an hour, but has worked fine for two years - bravo. Melted the can, overheated with cathodes glowing.