1950/60's Fluorescent Gooseneck Desk Lamp Ballast Arrangement
15w Fluorescent gooseneck desk lamp, unknown era but most likely 1950/60's

This has a manual starter button and this capacitive ballast arrangement in the base. Marked simply as 'Voltage Regulator 220-250v' and is wired in series with the neutral strangely. It works fine but it's noisy! I'm unsure how the starter button is wired but doesn't appear to heat the cathodes when pressed?

This will be rewired with a new magnetic ballast in a remote box before it's put into use

1950/60's Fluorescent Gooseneck Desk Lamp Ballast Arrangement

15w Fluorescent gooseneck desk lamp, unknown era but most likely 1950/60's

This has a manual starter button and this capacitive ballast arrangement in the base. Marked simply as 'Voltage Regulator 220-250v' and is wired in series with the neutral strangely. It works fine but it's noisy! I'm unsure how the starter button is wired but doesn't appear to heat the cathodes when pressed?

This will be rewired with a new magnetic ballast in a remote box before it's put into use

IMG_20181213_013836.jpg Screenshot_20230104_125955_Gallery.jpg DPP00003276.JPG DSC01509.JPG IMG_1203.jpg
File information
Filename:IMG_0228.JPG
Album name:fluorescent / Control Gear
Wattage:15
Filesize:4514 KiB
Date added:30 May, 2017
Dimensions:3171 x 2048 pixels
Displayed:796 times
URL:http://80.229.24.59:9232/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6154
Favourites:Add to Favourites

Comment 1 to 7 of 7
Page: 1

Simon_R   [30 May, 2017 at 02:04 PM]
Back home we had a Tricity cooker (1960s) with the same starter arrangment I disconected it and installed a normal starter!
fluorescent   [30 May, 2017 at 02:13 PM]
I do like the manual preheat starter button arrangement, but this one appears to be wired wierd. Can't​ see or feel any cathode heating when it's pressed? Odd
Simon_R   [30 May, 2017 at 02:22 PM]
I remember the cooker tube used to light straightaway, it was like an extra part fitted to the on/off push button switch.
Danny   [30 May, 2017 at 02:43 PM]
Interesting!
Arrowslim   [30 May, 2017 at 07:10 PM]
I had one of these ages ago... the 'ballast' arangement seemed to be very hard on the tubes,(and as you have noticed, was hardly silent) i found that an inline magnetic ballast box worked a lot better. A shame these werent as popular here as they were in the states & Oz
Kev   [30 May, 2017 at 07:47 PM]
15W tube is probably consuming about 100W with this set up lol
fluorescent   [30 May, 2017 at 09:55 PM]
Just had it on the power meter, it's consuming Just 19.5w from the mains. Definitely no preheating when the starter button is pressed though as power draw is zero? Very odd. Doesn't start that reliably either. Oh well, a remote ballast box will fix that and wire the button up like a traditional starter arrangement.

Comment 1 to 7 of 7
Page: 1

Add your comment
Anonymous comments are not allowed here. Log in to post your comment