Inverter problems

thanks for the advice I will give it a go, the fluros are 2 40w lights. it is just strange and I am baffeled as I have a different brand 150w inverter and it will turn 3 on but blows the fuse with in a minute or over heats the unit so I know that it would need to be more than 150 w to run 3 fluros. I am not up to par with my watts and amps etc..... When trying to turn 2 on you can here it clicking trying to start and a fint light up of the starter but that is it.????? lol......

If they flouros have a capacitor in them, TAKE IT OUT.
That will fix your problem.

Cheers

I agree. If you have capacitors in your flouros you need to remove them. They may blow up your inverter otherwise.

Sorry guys, the capacitors are there to correct the power factor caused by the inductors in the flouro, so should improve the situation.
Better still, why not use 12v CFL flouros; quite cheap now, and work a treat. And eliminates the inefficiencies of double-converting.
Gerry

link text

I blew up my first inverter by not removing the capacitor. Jaycar fixed it under warranty though when I pointed out that it was not in the instructions that you had to do so.

For those that don't want to load the document I cut and pasted the relevent part.

"Capacitive loading
Actually there's a different kind of problem with many kinds of fluorescent light
assembly: not so much inductive loading, but capacitive loading.
Although a standard fluoro light assembly represents a very inductive load due
to its ballast choke, most are designed to be operated from standard AC mains
power. As a result they're often provided with a shunt capacitor designed to
correct their power factor when they're connected to the mains and driven with a
50Hz sinewave.
The problem is that when these lights are connected to a DC-AC inverter with its
modified sinewave output, rich in harmonics, the shunt capacitor doesn't just
correct the power factor, but drastically over corrects because its impedance
is much lower at the harmonic frequencies. As a result, the fluoro assembly
draws a heavily capacitive load current, and can easily overload the inverter.
In cases where fluorescent lights must be run from an inverter, and the lights are
not going to be run from the mains again, usually the best solution is to either
remove their power factor correction capacitors altogether or replace them with a
much smaller value."

I use 240v fluoros as I already have the inverter and already have the 240v fluoros. So I see no need to spend my money on 12v fluoros. Money is better spent on other things. Like petrol these days!

Utemad, I understand what you're saying, but I've had 3 inverters crap themselves from inductive spikes, like the sort that flouros without caps can do. What you will find is that the total capacity of the inverter will be reduced by running inductive loads.
Using 12v CFLs means that you don't have to run 240v wiring around to the tents etc. This is not a bad idea when it's raining. These are down to about $15 now.
If you feel you must use 240v, then use 240v CFLs off your inverter rather than the old inductive starter versions. If you don't mind running high voltage (DC) around the place, then Oatley Electronics provide a nice DC-DC converter kit which runs several 240v CFLs from one converter.
This would solve all the problems with interfacing standard flouros with inverters.
Gerry

joc45,

I agree with you up to a point. I have had 2 12V cCFL go up in smoke (the Jaycar ones). And they would not smell nice in a tent when they go up!
The better way is actually to use 240V CFLs on an inverter. These don't care if they are fed with 240V AC, DC or whatever waveform gets thrown at them. I use an ARLEC portable worklight (less than $10.00) that can be clipped on to a tent pole, and just put a 240V CFL in it instead of a normal light bulb. It runs perfectly well on any inverter and is very cheap to replace.

Cheers

hl,
you might have been unlucky; I've been running 12v CFLs for about 7 years now, with no problems. I have a Jaycar one I bought only 12 months ago, so can't comment on its reliability yet. My only prob with the Jaycar one is the colour temp, which is a bit yellow (2700degK). The others I run are 4000K+ and give a good white light. On the other side of the coin, I've had 240v CFLs flame out at home, altho there was no smell involved, just a quick puff of smoke.
But the bottom line is that the CFLs give a much better light output than the conventional flouros, whether you go 240v or 12v, and (I'm theorising here) the 240v CFLs shouldn't have the power factor problems associated with conventional starter/inductor flouros (meaning that they should run off inverters with no problems).
Gerry

third choice
buy a Nelson **12 VOLT** compact flourescent lamp ($20 equivelent to 60wt incandesent globe) and arlec work light ($10), either remove plug and connect direct to your 12v battery or change plug and connect to cigy lighter socket. { Greame, thks they r gr8 :-) }

Mike,

Are these Nelsons 1" Edison screw? 48W cfl is very high...comparable to say 200W incandescents?

They are available with BC or ES bases to fit standard light sockets.

It is the biggest CFL I've ever seen - there are 4 u-shaped tubes 12cm long.

Nelson also make CFL spots if you want the light focussed in one area.

Thanks Mike,
I have the spot version[only 11W max]...can see the 48W [+ reflector] coming in very nicely!....Bunnings it is

It was my understanding that some inverters are not suitable for powering Fluros.

I have a 3000W Mod Sine Wave Inverter that runs perfectly 40w fluros.

I guess that's why his 150W MSWI runs the fluros (yet fuses go) {Wonder if they blow on 1 40W fluro?] and yet the 800W MSWI refuses to run them at all.

With the Capacitor, i have heard that that is one way to get it going. The Cap is purely a 'choke' and a way to 'smooth' start the tubes.

Hope that helps.

Hi,

Yes.. totally agree, and they create havoc with modified sinewave invertors for reasons I won't go into.
So... they should be taken out if the light is only used on the inverter.

Cheers