Lighting Ballasts
Express is one of the largest suppliers of Lighting Ballasts and Transformers. We keep thousands of top quality bulb ballasts & ballast kits in stock and ready to ship the next business day. We are the contractor's choice in ballasts and controls for commercial lighting applications, including electronic linear fluorescent ballasts, HID ballasts, compact fluorescent solutions and more. All of our products carry an iron-clad guarantee. Please contact us if you you need assistance finding the right ballast or Kit.
Electric Ballasts
If you've turned on the electric-switch in your office or installed energy saving bulbs in your home, then chances are you've seen the working results of lighting ballasts. These small components are essential to regulating the flow of electrical current in the fluorescent bulbs found in most commercial buildings and the energy efficient bulbs recently introduced for use in the home. To appreciate the crucial function of these intricate devices, it's important to understand the differences between a regular lamp and a fluorescent lamp.
Standard incandescent bulbs produce light when an electrical current is passed through a heated filament. By comparison, the creation of lumens in a fluorescent or gas-discharge lamp is a more complicated process. One of the most common examples of gas-discharge lamps are fluorescent bulbs, which generate visible ultraviolet spectrum by exciting mercury atoms. This occurs when an electric current passes through a ballast located in a fluorescent lamp's phosphorus-coated tube that contains mercury vapor and an inert gas like argon.
Because of their detailed design, fluorescent lamps allow more current to flow through them than incandescent bulbs. As a result, ballasts are needed to regulate the electrical flow inside the tube. Without them fluorescent lamps would burn out or explode due to the current overflow.
Different types of ballasts:
There are different lamp ballasts designed for use in the variety of gas-discharge lights such as industrial-sized fluorescent lamps, compact energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, neon signs, and the high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps that are used in warehouses, stadiums, roadways and some automobile headlights.
Electromagnetic lighting ballast
Electromagnetic ballasts are widespread components typically used to control the flow of current in fluorescent lights. They start the lamps and keep them working through electromagnetic induction, which uses a charged conductor like a wire coil in a magnetic field to produce electrical volts. They also regulate current flow at a typically low cycle, resulting in the hum and flicker that are characteristic of fluorescent lights.
Electronic lighting ballast
Electronic ballasts are more modern systems of controlling current in gas-discharge lamps. Instead of magnetic coils that rely on induction, they use capacitors to create electronic circuits. In addition to being more efficient, electronic bulb ballasts also significantly reduce the hum and flicker associated with their older electromagnetic counterparts. Because of their efficiency and quiet, many fluorescent fixtures containing electronic ballasts are replacing older electromagnetic-based lamps. In addition, they are found in commercial high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps and the energy saving compact bulbs designed for home use.
Switchable HPS/MH Ballasts
Switchable ballasts are a new kind of current controlling fixture used primarily in commercial or home greenhouses. They are designed to allow for the use of either metal halide (MH) lamps or high pressure sodium bulbs (HPS). These will operate on a switchable igniter that turns off when a MH bulb is operating and on when an HPS lamp is in use. Generally, the metal halide lighting is used for growing vegetables, while the high pressure sodium spectrum is used to promote the growth of flowering plants.
