How a Fluorescent Light Works - Schematic Animation

Animation shows the circuit of the first kind of fluorescent lamp called the preheat. See how the ballast and starting switch work to strike an arc in the lamp. See the timing of the AC power cycle and why the lamp flickers before it gets a good start. Model of lamp with and without a ballast. See the tungsten filaments warm up. To get the full description of how it works go to www.EdisonTechCenter.org/Fluorescent.html.

[@winterroadspokenword4681]

Incredible technology, really. This universe is amazingly complex!

[@rondj1965]

This animation is great. Really makes it 'click'. Thanks for sharing this.

[@1959ram]

Thanks for the video. Yes it is useful to understand how a tube light works.

[@Wul-Lop]

Your video informs & educates people around the world. Thank & many thanks from Thailand. ขอบคุณครับ (Thank you words in Thai).

[@orochimaru1253]

Nice animation , best explanation , good job.

[@JoeCognescenti]

Very illuminating.

[@mangeshmalgi279]

Excellent animation Thanks

[@ahirshailc6515]

Fine KZbin video is a best support of my life

[@rejee100]

we need to watch again and again thank U

[@foureyedchick]

1:36: I just love how the lamp shatters with broken glass. cool.

[@prashanthreddy2121]

you hav got these many views only for making this video with such a speed that no one could understand it ... and i appreciate u fr that

[@abubardewa939]

Nice video but better try to make it simple and slow.... It would be more nice

[@OriginalTT]

U could've slow down the vid with setting, but opps im 7 years late

[@abubardewa939]

@@OriginalTT That comment was from a caveman who could not figure out how to put a video in half speed on KZbin. Lol

[@OriginalTT]

@@abubardewa939 lmao

[@jeremiahhively3025]

This is awesome 😊

[@shavindasupun5185]

excellent work.Thanks

[@moralesfabricio]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing

[@davextreme85]

Ballast prevents high current like a resistor. Except the ballast resistance increases with current. The lamp has very little resistance if there is no resistor like thing then it will form short-circuit. Hope u understand that the starter turns it self off after tube starts conducting...there fore current goes through one terminal (filament) to another. The filament it self does not glow when tube has started glowing.

[@jasbir48]

Beautiful best explanation.

[@DF-ee8vt]

60-hertz AC changes direction every 120th of a second, not every 60th. Just a technical note. Most people don't care.

[@Loml147]

I DONT GET HERTZ

[@winterroadspokenword4681]

If that’s the case, why do I feel such a strobing effect coming from fluorescent lights. It feels so unstable a light source!

[@DF-ee8vt]

@@winterroadspokenword4681 I'm not sure if this is a serious question, but it sounds like you have a bad ballast.

[@Kamal_grum]

@@Loml147the amount of times the voltage switches from positive to negative in a second

[@bran_rx]

I don't get it!!... 60Hz means it changes direction 60 times in 1 second, meaning it changes direction every 16.667 milliseconds.

[@metalmanin]

I have a question? Why does a choke ballast have no issues making a tube work but a germacile tube makes the ballast overheat?

[@LakhsTsoyknikas]

GREAT PROJECT VIDEO TO FLUORESCENT LAMP

[@avinashcm]

Great scientific video

[@hansonsux]

Actually, without a ballast, the current wouldn't raise sowly like that. It is actually quite fast, in that if the lamp happened to fire at say 120vac, then it would be the same as a dead short and the current limiter would be a fuse or circuit breaker. So you end up with a big spark and maybe a screwed up lamp. But usually 120v is not enough to fire the lamp, so most of the time no current flows and nothing happens.

[@uploadJ]

Remember, in the US 120 V mains voltage is actually about 170 V peak. The figure quoted for mains voltage is actually the "RMS" value. The peak value is then: 1.414 x 120V == 169V

[@AlwafiCharki]

very helpful thank you

[@williefleete]

probably the same thing or they have a 12/24volt to mains (110 or 230 volt) inverter. you could probably run a regular flouro fitting off DC you'd just get the blackness you get on flouro tubes at one end and with the tube slightly over-driven and a saturated ballast cause the ballast works best on AC, but it should start pretty quick though.

[@suraanbrenner4096]

Video was a bit fast but still explained it's operation well. Thanks

[@williefleete]

they usually have a boost converter to kick a high enough voltage into the lamp without needing a starting system. you'll find these in laptops or small flouro torches

[@mayarhamdy1914]

Great video

[@user-iy7gb6fd4h]

What program you have used to made animation ?

[@eGogy]

Good one... simple

[@populationone820]

what a great vid.

[@veno5759]

Moth:need lamp (Watches video) Moth:yes more

[@AdamWood]

I lul'ed so hard when the lamp broke for some reason... Such comedy, such dry comedy.

[@EdisonTechCenter]

Its from a library of royalty-free music from Music Bakery, don't know the name of the track.

[@FULLMOON36528]

Its very interesting...very good video

[@tihitichoukrigenie]

Merci a vous

[@vasudevannambudiri5916]

very nice presentation...

[@BAoz]

Ballast only work with AC (Inductive Reactance). Maybe DC resistor?

[@debasmitasen]

excellent

[@chaitanyasthalekar24]

I think you have missed the role of low work function coating on the filaments. Without this coating a very high voltage is reqd to intiate the arc which is called COLD START and not recommended.It reduces life of the tube.The coating when heated by the filament emits electrons which assists the creation and establishes the arc but has no role to play once the arc is struck. It is noticed that when the coating is depleted the filaments only heat up but the arc is not struck.Cheap quality lamps have improperor inadequate coating.The Cold start method can avoid the use of starter by introducing an electronic pulse.

[@LawatheMEid]

Thank you very much, a childhood question is answered now ^_^

[@TheZafootz]

Awsome Video! I'm glad to see someone has taken the time to learn about these simple lamp fixtures. In my opinion, these type of lamps last the longest compare to any other lights. I have 6 or 7 of them all 20-30 years old and still using the same bulbs that they started with =D A+ man keep up the good work!

[@uploadJ]

A roughly 40 yo T12 4ft long bulb just gave up the ghost here a week or two back, one of the filaments opened up (I checked it with a DMM.) That's very good life!

[@555technoboy]

They usually have some kind of AC inverter built into the fixture that converts 12 volts DC into 120 volts AC. Like the thing you plug into the cigarette lighter socket to power laptops and what not.

[@saikiran-fy9ws]

Oh crap!. Before watching this I should learn how to view this video at a speed of 1/50.

[@hareshpanchal5506]

nice explain

[@EricWentx]

great!!!

[@EdisonTechCenter]

You might find the written description of how this works easier, its at our webpage EdisonTechCenter org slash Fluorescent h t m l

[@moonvoonnoon]

what is the purpose of ballast?.... answer please..

[@lahirusupunchandra]

Thanks!

[@winminnaung2020]

Thanks for it

[@herp_derpingson]

Whats the use of the capacitor near the bimetallc strip?

[@skodovkar]

I am guessing it is there to prevent arcing between contacts - just as in the classic car contact distributor.

[@vacuumboy6.0]

okay cool i just really like the beat :]

[@marczand1099]

nice movie but explaination is simply said not correct ( incomplete and WRONG) 1. when the neon-bimetal bulb glows, the filliament is NOT heated (only the bi-metal is) 2. the heating of the filliaments only starts as bi-metal closes (which stops the glowing of the neon and ends the heating of the bi-metal) 3 then, when the bi-metal opens (after ~2 sec) the filliaments are hot and the sudden opening will cause induction and so HV over the lamp, making it easyer to start ionising the gass, that will then produce UV-light 4 the uv-licht will be transformed to normal vissible light by the powder on the inside of the tube, this powder is available in all shades and collours

[@danielblancolauzurica7117]

+Marc Zand Your comment made me see the whole picture. Thank you. In the first stage, isn't the tungsten wire heated at all? not even a tiny little bit?

[@marczand1099]

+Daniel Blanco Lauzurica the current that flows through the neon light is ~1mA, the current to heat the filliament is ~750mA. You now can draw your conclusion about the amount of heat in the first stage ;-) greetz Marc

[@danielblancolauzurica7117]

+Marc Zand All clear Marc :) Thank you for answering.

[@saimanojmutchupalli7739]

Marc Zand sir.. what is that powder present in the lamp..

[@ikigairyusu8796]

Thank you Mark Zand , guess you are the TeslaTechCentre to the EdisonTechCentre

[@ciumides]

1:14 Tubul fluorescent functioneaza la aproximativ 40 volt ,dar pentru aprindere este necesar un impuls de peste 800 volt. Alimentat direct din retea nu se va aprinde.

[@vacuumboy6.0]

WHATS THAT MUSIC CALLED !! i like it

[@ramachandraraosrinivasan3816]

Super!!!

[@janistrent4330]

Current in the United States switches direction 120 times per second not 60. Each cycle has two directions.

[@Bushwack5555]

+Janis Trent I believe the point being made is that it reverses polarity 60 times per second

[@breezetix]

My name is Trent...

[@Jess404]

+Cheshire Cat Janis is right, US AC power reverses polarity 120 times per second. It's easier to see this if you look at a portion of the sine wave that's not starting at zero. If you look at a single "cycle" starting at its peak of ~170V (the 120V rating is only the RMS rating, it's 170V peak to peak) you'll see it go +170 → 0 → (-)170 → 0 → +170 in 1/60 of a second - note it crossed zero twice, and thus reversed polarity twice. The frequency is expressed as "60 cycles per second (or 60Hz)" because a single cycle is a full sine wave that peaks both positive and negative. Edit: stupid KZbin thinks I'm trying to make strikethrough text instead of indicating voltage polarity -_-

[@SAWESPORTS]

@Mr green , u are on another level

[@yuroga]

a voiceover would make this video 10x better

[@RK_d_Voyager]

good one

[@manjulwalia1995]

Awesome !!! :D WOW super like for this video

[@OldMockingbird]

Have you ever actually hooked one up?

[@fanmailbharat2008]

good video

[@jerryape]

watch this again if you need thank you for permission

[@dtwdvne]

what is this music please?

[@Gbhmagic]

I thought it was due to negative resistance. Not thermal runway that caused the need for a ballast..did i miss something?

[@gaboceron100]

ok.. that was more complex than I expected

[@konradmtb]

Nice one, although the starter action is missing - it shorts circuit and the begginning but than it disconnects as I recall - could be included into animation.

[@rockets4kids]

I was wondering about this as well. What does happen to the starter in operation?

[@djb22]

The starter is basically a neon bulb with a bimetallic strip. When the bulb heats up, the contacts touch and short out the bulb. Maximum mains power then reaches the tube for a split second. Bulb cools down, contacts open and power disconnects - causing inductive kick through the tube. Once the tube is fully lit, very little current flows through the starter, because the two filaments at each end of the tube have warmed up so draw less current. So now the starter will just glow without getting hot enough to heat and short the contacts.

[@uploadJ]

@@djb22 re: "Once the tube is fully lit, very little current flows through the starter" I think it is BECAUSE the little neon bulb no longer fires. You know a neon bulb fires at a higher voltage than it takes to sustain the glow?

[@djb22]

@@uploadJ But why does the neon bulb no longer fire?

[@uploadJ]

@@djb22 re: "But why does the neon bulb no longer fire?" Gas physics. The fluorescent tube, once fired, draws the voltage down further and the Neon bulb extinguishes, purportedly. It is possible to overdrive a little neon bulb, but it would not last long that way.

[@kangarootoess7151]

Nice

[@bharatendubandyopadhyay5054]

Why didn't you make it audioable

[@accordioncafe]

Bulb gets hot . Bi metal strip bends.Makes contact . lower resistance path. Current flows through strip instead of bulb so Bi metal cools and re-sets. If the arc has established no current flows through the bulb. Pretty good eh.

[@JoshHopkinsYT]

Ac switches direction 120 times per second, or 120 half cycles per second, or 60 full cycles per second.

[@huybv1998]

put the video at 0.25x speed, it's pretty simple to understand

[@nannyplum7723]

Some fluorescent light fixtures can cause EMI aka electromagnetic interference on AM radio

[@michaelwitmer7536]

One Cycle = 2 Changes in direction. It's just word play. doesn't really change the theory of operation. Many of us never passed grade school, Not because we were stupid, more like we weren't really interested in much of their propaganda. Many ditched conventional education systems. Go with God and may he bless you in all you attempt.

[@tusharnayak7495]

so confused! why its too fast? even if it is, use proper explainantions evrywher so that one can pause the video and read.

[@EdisonTechCenter]

This video is not for beginners, you can research more background prior to viewing, so for some all they need is a quick video to link concepts they already are familiar with. If you want a detailed video with proper explanations than you can donate the funds required to create such a video.

[@tusharnayak7495]

This was just an opinion. This video comes in front when a BEGINNER searches for its basics. If this happens, questions like this are bound arise.

[@tusharnayak7495]

Hahah

[@frankiejimenez5546]

Tushar Nayak

[@arijit798]

he explained everything how it should be but yeah... little fast... by the way, in reality, e- moves faster than the way it is depicted... so would you ask electricity to run by giving plenty of pauses... :D why don't you slow down the speed from featured settings option...?

[@spider123666]

good thanks

[@suminmonmadhu1182]

NIce video...

[@sunilnavelkar433]

explanation is like a ac supply...

[@darkknight48827]

the starter switch is in the open position with only a small current running through the circuit through neon gas when the starter tube heats enough the switch closes, current increases dramatically resulting in much larger magnetic fields which collapse raising voltage the fluorescent tube now arcs i assume the resistance through the vaporized mercury is much lower than the resistance through the starter resulting in the starter cooling and opening the video is way to fast and not incomprehensible and most likely plain wrong.

[@GalaXy808]

Wow now we know,it's going cycle around n round?

[@adelfadel7466]

ممتاز wonderful

[@balagamvaralakshmi8428]

Sir can u please upload generator motor transformer working animation

[@goodcitizen17]

I need. so I watch again. now know.

[@laxmanrao7628]

good

[@NaveenKumar-sx8fw]

Tube light ?Hackking Brain and voice with Technology

[@z120p]

Good information. Provided far too quickly. It's difficult enough trying to read the text at the given rate, let alone process it.

[@saji3867]

Super

[@JulesBartow]

How come the busted tube drips?

[@pranavpaithankar6962]

As it is having mercury inside ,sir.

[@04_ingitdas63]

Agr iss video ke speed ko slow krr de tb toh thoda bohot samjh hi jayega

[@cloviscareca]

One thing I can't understand is HOW the starter stay OFF after the lamp starts. The starter is ON when cold and OFF and hot. So, moments after the lamp starts, the starter should be cold again, right? As there's no energy passing through it to keep it warm. Please someone explain me!

[@NorthernWindNut]

The excited gas in the lit tube has very little resistance so there's almost no voltage across it, not near enough to light the starter. It'd be like if you tried wiring a flashlight bulb in parallel to a shorted AA battery--bulb wouldn't light. The choke also reduces the voltage significantly after the gas is ignited so it won't blow up the tube, as shown in the video. So.. not enough voltage to keep the starter lit.

[@cloviscareca]

@@NorthernWindNut thanks

[@NorthernWindNut]

Glad I could help

[@hakantorbjar6501]

The other way around. The bimetallic switch in the starter is open (cold) initially and must be open after the fluorescent lamp has turned on (otherwise the lamp would be shorted). I think the text at 0:31 (Small neon lamp heats up a bimetallic switch) is misleading. This happened already when the AC was applied at 0:14, when the neon lamp was lit and the switch heated and closed. The text at 0:36 (1. Bimetallic switch heats up and pops into "off") is wrong. Because the switch shorts out the neon lamp, it goes out and the bimetallic switch *cools* and opens. Finally, when the fluorescent lamp is lit, there is not enough voltage to relight the neon lamp.

[@Kejsler]

0,25 slow speed is best!

[@eshan2640]

+Jiří Kasal yes it was

[@michaelokafor9904]

Good

[@itsReallyLou]

Actually, 60 Hz current changes direction 120 times per second.

[@american0153]

itsReallyLou no stupid, 60 times per second, you obviously never passed grade school.

[@SAWESPORTS]

@@american0153 , I think you haven't been to school 😂One ac oscillation consists of onepositive half cycle and one negative half cycle. ... The direction changesafter every half cycle. Therefore, thedirection of an alternating currenthaving frequency 50 Hz changes 100 times in one sec. First thing, never mock others if they are wrong, second keep your knowledge correct.

[@SAWESPORTS]

Infact, it completes one cycle in 1/60 sec and every cycle switches direction at semicycle only if it's 60Hz. And

[@xenamerry]

I can't see the video. All that comes up is a blank, green screen. It's the same with your other video on fluorescent lamps.

[@furekmody7749]

1:35 that's what happened whan i plugged in a fluorescent tube to a microwave oven transformer with stepped down voltage to about 400 volts (secondary)

[@akshatparmar6155]

Bruhhh...

[@filipinasantos2769]

i change the bulb and the starter , does the ballast is defective? is there any reading if i use a VOM meter to check the continuity of the ballast? if so what is the reading?

[@wasimirza37]

Channel name is Edison while explaining invention by Tesla

[@morganfitzp]

Gets good around 1:30.

[@ajithsingh2740]

*Video is very fast* Watching in .5x speed Wait.! I have heard this music before 😁

[@artifexmusic]

now there is an electronic ballast that removes he flicker complely

[@dragonfruitboss3508]

nice job in movie maker.

[@Mentorcase]

Really do you really hate them? I like them.