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Old 15th Jan 2019, 2:05 pm   #51
russell_w_b
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
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Default Re: The demise of the fluorescent tube

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Philpott View Post
As regards tubes (in iron ballast fittings) failing to strike in cold/damp weather, spraying the glass with an off the shelf silicone spray...
I recall older fluorescent tubes, where the fittings had a bayonet-end and bi-pin adaptors had to be used for newer tubes, having a thin earth-wire running the length of the glass tube on the outside. This was to get the ionisation started more readily.

On a different note, I tried replacing the 11" fluorescent tube in my photographic light-box with an LED version; it was rubbish! No nice, diffuse light, even though it's reflecting from a matte-white parabola through a white opal sheet of perspex. I tried tinfoil reflector experiments and facing the tube backwards, but nooo... Back to the fluorescent again, despite the inherent disadvantage that copying anyrhing with a shutter-speed above 1/30 sec results in a 'walking' black spot. Bog-paper attenuation does the job in this case.
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Russell W. B.
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