Electrical Question

Is it a Modified sine wave inverter or a pure sine wave inverter? Some Flouro light ballasts wont work with MSW inverters.

Does it work in the main supply power point?

Cram
The inverter is the right size in terms of watts. Suprising to see a single 4 ft flouro at 263mA, normally around 400 - 500mA. Either way the inverter is at double the amount of watts required.

MSW will be the problem. As stated above the ballast cannot function correctly without the right frequency input.

Hi Cram
One of the reasons not to get a MSW inverter if you want to use it to run many 240v devices.
They CAN cause problems with lots of gear even causing sufficient over heating to burn out the gear over time.
Standard domestic style fluoros , motors, some electronic gear some bat chargers, tvs etc CAN have problems handling the wave form..
Many will no doubt reply telling you that they have had no problems & that is the problem ,you will not know until you try it with the YOUR gear.PURE sine wave is the only certain way to be sure ALL your gear will work, unfortunately more expensive.

SOME fluoro lights use an electronic ballast and not the simple transformer style of the old ones. If the fluoro has an electronic ballast it will be very light weight. I think that you will find that it is the electronic ballast fluoros that don't like your inverter. I would not worry about getting a pure sine wave inverter as the cost does not warrant it. Cheaper to look at a 12 volt led light system.

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I have an old work light. The one's that have the wire around them and you can hang up around the place. I just put a compact fluro into it and it works a treat. Like you say, smaller, comapct and best of all no extra money to spend.Well at least not till I need to run TV's etc which at present I don't.

Sounds like a power factor issue. Because the flouro has a ballast inductor in it, the power factor will somewhat less than 1.0, resulting in more current drawn than ohm's law would indicate. A capacitor is usually installed to correct this, but only when it is actually running, not starting.
Suggest you buy some 12v CFLs (Jaycar, Bunnings), which will give you much better light for a given power consumption with less hassle.
cheers, Gerry

Hi Cram,

Redarc has a unit which converts your 240v fluoro to run on 12VDC. You do need to remove the existing ballast etc., but they come with full instructions. I have one and it works extremely well - instant strike with no annoying flashing at all.

Not sure of the current price, but suspect somewhere around $60.

Check out the link HERE

Cheers
Gerry

why don't you just buy a small 240V fluro that has been converted to 12V if you want to run a normal fluro, saves the hassle of invertors, i've got one and it pumps out heaps of light. you can buy the conversion kits seperately and then gut your existing fluro, or you can buy them as a completed item already converted, just got to ad your 12V lead to it is all, just a matter of connecting 2 wires to the light.

Thanks for all the replies. The fact is I usually only take the fluro light with me when I am going to powered sites.

Over Easter I am camping in the bush then heading to Harrington for a week and so was going to take the fluro with me so I just thought I would see if it worked but obviously it did'nt.

So I will stick with my 12 volts, that I have and my coleman gas light and i have the work light if I need it.

Just buy 12V fluro's! Narva have the best range and they are excellent quality and half the price of LED's for the same light output.
I've sold heaps of them going to have to keep a stockpile soon I think!

I haven't read all the replies but I suspect the startup voltage and current might be the issue.