ODNO measurements: power consumption vs light output(LONG)

[Freebird01]

with an ODNO setup can you still use the bulb sleeves or do the bulbs get too hot for them?

[shoppinit]

Hi all,

Will ODNO work with this kind of lamp:



As far as I can tell it's the same technology as the regular tubes, just with a 180° bend in it...

Thanks.

Ben.

[PAINKILLER1009]

Looks like compact florecent bulb to me. You can over drive them but they run very hot and you cant make them very much brighter. ODing is for t12-t8 really.

[SCMurphy]

PC bulbs are basically already on overdrive, it isn't worth the electricity to overdrive them more, the efficiency drops.

[milkdud]

What reflectors are you using for the t8's?

[shoppinit]

Thanks for that. I was hoping to be able to overdrive them, but I think I'll forget it now. I just needed a little more light output.

THanks.

Ben.

[SpeedEuphoria]

Thanks for the very awesome thread. Most of what I saw so far was the assumption that energy would be wasted. I'm moving forward now with my ODNO project.

I only wish that 2 bulbs were tested @ 2x ODNO to see it the ballast provided the 112watts? or less than 100w

[Basilisk]

I haven't overdriven yet. However, reading over and over this article, leaves me wondering what could be achieved ODing using several single bulb ballasts. I have 4 of them. Do you think that could overdrive actual 2x? I mean, actual 64 watts into one bulb with two ballasts?

I fear, without a solid basis, that two ballasts won't work in perfect sync, and cause some serious strike or shock.

[epicfish]

No, it's not possible.

[Basilisk]

Just as I thought.

[oceanus]

Originally Posted by shrimpy2

Hi All, my first post.

This is a great thread that got me working on my personal OD project, which I just completed.

This weekend, I retrofitted a similar setup and got some results that seem to back up the original findings in this thread.

The set up is:

1 - Advance REL-4P32-SC (4x32W)
3 - Philips T8 48" Daylight 6500K bulbs in the following configuration:
1st bulb - normal output (1 lead)
2nd bulb - normal output (1 lead)
3rd bulb - overdrive 2x (2 leads)

Due to way the hood is set up, the wiring is permanent, so I can only test according to the on/off combinations above by removing or adding bulbs.

Using the kill-a-watt device (which I love), I got the following wattage consumption measurements:

a) No bulbs installed: 5 watts
b) Only 1 NO bulb: 40 watts
c) Only the 2xOD bulb: 54 watts
d) Both NO bulbs: 66 watts
e) One NO and the 2xOD: 80 watts
f) All three bulbs: 102 watts

With all three bulbs on, the 2xOD bulb is noticibly brighter. Unfortuntely, I don't have any light measuring equipment, so that desciption is as scientific as it's gonna get. Thats a shame b/c while the 2xOD is brighter, I don't know if the 2xOD brighter b/c of pure additional lighting, or if it was somehow stealing something from the other bulbs and making them dimmer.

The ballast was plugged into the kill-a-watt device, which in turn was plugged directly into a wall socket.

Any comments, questions or suggestions?

Thanks

Switching into a electronic ballast rather than a noraml ballast will helps save at least 30% of the electricity consumption as well..

[paulrw]

so what about overdriving a standard t-5 ballasts and bulbs i'm o.d.ing a standard t-5 x2
28w bulb it looks a little brighter and a little whiter can i expect better results useing this bulb instead of a factory o.d. 54w bulb

[veganboyscout]

hey Shalu, I think you were using the wrong formula to calculate "OD Efficiency" in column 5. I believe you should have divided the lumen/watt figure by 1, 2, 3 or 4 X the lumen/watt figure for the 1 X test (respectively). For example, The "OD Efficiency" for the T8 bulb at 4X overdrive should be 4.6/(4x3.8)=.30 According to your data, you should have concluded that T8 bulbs at 4X overdrive are less than 1/3 as efficient as 1X factory T8 bulbs. Your conclusions were completely wrong. Fluorescent bulbs do become markedly less efficient the more you overdrive them, not more! Your own data demonstrates that! I wish you were right, but you are not. Does anybody else agree with me?

[veganboyscout]

Shalu, I thought some more on these calculations, and I realized that when calculating the efficiency we should use the proportion that the wattage increased, not the 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x because the power did not increase in practice or in reality by double, triple, quadruple, as we attempt to do by overdriving the lights. We know this thanks to your use of the Kill-A-Watt. So, for the T8 bulb at 4x overdrive, the OD Efficienies calculation would look like 4.6/(3.8*(69/40))=.70 or 70% efficiency. So, as 100% efficiency for 1x as the basis, for all the T8 OD Efficiencies, I calculated 2x = 85%, 3x=78%, 4x=70%. These figures are in agreement with estimates elsewhere on the web.