On Fri, 8 Nov 2002, Alan B. Pearce wrote:

*>>A spark gap across the starter could prolong its life
*>>also (even better a gas arrestor at ~400V firing voltage).
*>
*>Hmm, the old style starters that I have come across were a bimetal strip
*>inside an envelope that was filled with a gas like argon or neon. So I doubt
*>that an external spark gap would help as the starter itself is already
*>designed like this.

The opened starter must withstand the ignition voltage of the tube which
is 0.5-1kV-ish after heaters were applied. It does this by only passing a
limited amount of current (it's a constant current discharge tube - not an
arc tube - probably with very low pressure gas fill). And the external
spark gap or vdr is very important if you don't want the poor starter to
plate the glass envelope with its innards before too long. In a normal
fluorescent fixture if the lamp does not catch the starter flashes
brightly. Every time it does that its life is shortened.

Peter

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