It's not a light bulb, it's a discharge tube that is started by a heated
filament with its own heat operated disengaging switch (all inside the
globe).  The ballast is there to give enough oomph to get it started, then
to smooth out the 50 or 60 cycle AC so that the discharge doesn't cut off.

Get *EXACTLY* the recommended ballast for this special lamp.

Bye.

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Victor Raba [SMTP:vrware@OLYMPUS.HUMBERC.ON.CA]
        Sent:   Friday, 26 November 1999 10:41
        To:     PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
        Subject:        [OT] UV Light Bulb GTL3

        I have a GTL3 253nm UV light bulb.  This bulb is a replacement for a
        PALM-ERASE.  The info that I have found for this bulb is that it
uses
        about .35A and that it needs a ballast.  Based on my preliminary
data
        I believe that all I need is a 12 power supply for it, and thats
all.

        Specs:

        Wattage - 3W
        Current - 0.350A
        UV watt - 0.18W
        2.0 microwatts/ cm*cm at 1m

        Do light bulbs have similar power calculations to motors?
        (power triangle stuff)

        If someone has a UV eraser that uses this bulb could you measure the
        voltage on the output of the ballast (transformer).

        BTW> This is not a flourescent tube, its incandescent with a screw
in
        base (type E17).

        vic