Retrofit PL lighting Kit from AH Supply

[tonylau]

Hi does anybody ever buy PL Lighting kit from AH Supply from the US? My question is that their kit is designed for 110VAC, 60Hz, so will it work here by stepping down the 240VAC to 110V while the line frequency remain at 50Hz?

[Mason]

Sorry to tell you that you have to buy a converter. (220Vac / 110Vac and the current be the same as it requirement). What would be the ampere for your output current? Or how many tubes and wattage?

You can choose to modify it to 230Vac 50Hz or buy a power converter which you must have the same amperes output and fequency. Otherwsie it will blow off very fast.

Mason

[quote:4a7a83485c="tonylau"]Hi does anybody ever buy PL Lighting kit from AH Supply from the US? My question is that their kit is designed for 110VAC, 60Hz, so will it work here by stepping down the 240VAC to 110V while the line frequency remain at 50Hz?[/quote:4a7a83485c]

[tonylau]

Thank you Mason. By converter do you mean a device which accept 230V, 50Hz and output 115V, 60Hz while at the same time capable of providing the necessary ampere current to the lighting system?

I'm looking for a 2X55Watt PL fixture but had not place order yet due to the uncertainly over the possibility of feeding 50Hz to 60Hz fixture.

[Mason]

Hi,

Yes, you can try to purchase the transformer (converter) with the same ampere for your lighting fitting but not sure whether they have the ampere?

Or

Modify your eballast to 230Vac to your existing fitting to suit 2xPL55W and for future reselling purpose.

The choice is yours.

Mason
[quote:191c5cccca="tonylau"]Thank you Mason. By converter do you mean a device which accept 230V, 50Hz and output 115V, 60Hz while at the same time capable of providing the necessary ampere current to the lighting system?

I'm looking for a 2X55Watt PL fixture but had not place order yet due to the uncertainly over the possibility of feeding 50Hz to 60Hz fixture.[/quote:191c5cccca]

[tawauboy]

is it really necessary to buy the lighting kit from ah supply?
anything special with regards to the light you have in mind?
you may be able to something similar locally.

you can use a 110v 60hz device through a 230/110v transformer. just make sure that the transformer can handle the power required with some spare capacity. you should be looking for a transformer capable of handling about 150-200w. you need not worry about the 50/60hz difference. drawback, the light may run a wee bit hotter.

[tonylau]

Thank you tawauboy.
AH Supply is just one of my potential sources. I'm based in Hong Kong and the problem here is that there's no ready-made or retrofit kit with 55W PL bulb (although T5Ho seems to start taking hold in the market). As such I have no other choice but to mail order from the US.

The key issue I face in sourcing from US is the mains supply. 220/240V stepping down to 115VAC is not an issue, (a decent transformer can do the job) but the line frequency (60Hz vs 50Hz) seems to be. In fact I was told by a renounce suppier that their ballast, though able to work from 110 to 277V, can't work with 50Hz.

I'm putting my purchase on hold now pending resolution of this issue.

[tawauboy]

any reason given by the supplier?
there shouldn't be any problem with 60hz devices operating from 50hz mains.

[tonylau]

The supplier didn't provide any reason.

The following is an exact replica of their reply:
"Our universal ballasts are designed to run 110-277V / 60hz. This ballast will not work in 50Hz applications"

[tawauboy]

an interesting requirement.
almost all countries that uses 110v uses 60hz while most countries (>85%) that uses 220/230/240v uses 50hz. look here
that requirement will exclude a huge market that uses 50hz.

normally 50/60hz is critical for clock or timing applications.
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