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Ballast Factor
Ratio of a lamp's light output on ballast compared to the lamp's rated light output. The higher the ballast factor, the more light delivered.

Circle E Ballast
Indicates special EPACT compliant version of ballast. Check the laws and codes for specific applications.

Color Rendering Index
CRI-indicates how true to color lighted objects appear. A higher number means truer color. The CRI creates light sources on a scale of 0 to 100. The higher the CRI the more vibrant or close to natural the colors the objects appear.

Color Temperature or Chromaticity
The appearance of the light that comes from a light source. The color temperature is measured in Kelvin or "k". The higher the color temperature, the visually cooler or bluer the light appears.

Electronic Ballast
A ballast that utilizes electronic components to transform current at high frequency to operate fluorescent or discharge lamps.

Footcandle
The measurement of the ammount of light reaching the surface. Footcandles are measured in lumens per square foot.

Lamp Efficacy
Different lamp types have different
abilities to convert electrical power (watts) into visible light (lumens). The quality of light emitted is divided by the imput power to determine the lamps efficacy. This is expressed as lumens per watt LPW.

Life
How long on average a bulb is estimated to last.The number of burning hours on average after which 50% of representative groups of lamps in tests under controlled burning conditions and at a specified number of burning hours per start have failed.

LPW
Lumens per watt a measure of energy efficiency. Fluorescent lamps are very energy efficient and emit up to 100 lumens per watt.

Lumens
Bulb brightness. A higher number means brighter light. Fluorescent lamp lumens decrease over its life.

Magnetic Ballast
A ballast that uses core and coil assembly to transform electrical current to start and operate fluorescent lamps.

Octron Ballast
A ballast designed to operate 1" diameter, T8 fluorescent R.S. lamps. It is not compatable with T12 or preheat lamps.

Power Factor
The ratio of power(watts) to volt-amps of the ballast. The power factor ratio may be used to determine how efficiently total input power is being used.

Ingress Protection Ranking (IP Ranking)

Ingress Protection (IP) ratings are developed by the European Committee for Electro Technical Standardization (CENELEC)
(NEMA IEC 60529 Degrees of Protection Provided by Enclosures - IP Code), specifying the environmental protection the enclosure provides.

The IP rating normally has two numbers:
1. Protection from solid objects or materials
2. Protection from liquids (water)

Example - IP Rating
With the IP rating IP 54, 5 describes the level of protection from solid objects and 4 describes the level of protection from liquids.
An "X" can used for one of the digits if there is only one class of protection, i.e.
IPX1 which addresses protection against vertically falling drops of water e.g. condensation..

IP First number - Protection against solid objects
0 No special protection
1 Protected against solid objects up to 50 mm, e.g. accidental touch by persons hands.
2 Protected against solid objects up to 12 mm, e.g. persons fingers.
3 Protected against solid objects over 2.5 mm (tools and wires).
4 Protected against solid objects over 1 mm (tools, wires, and small wires).
5 Protected against dust limited ingress (no harmful deposit).
6 Totally protected against dust.

IP Second number - Protection against liquids
0 No protection.
1 Protection against vertically falling drops of water e.g. condensation.
2 Protection against direct sprays of water up to 15o from the vertical.
3 Protected against direct sprays of water up to 60o from the vertical.
4 Protection against water sprayed from all directions - limited ingress permitted.
5 Protected against low pressure jets of water from all directions - limited ingress.
6 Protected against temporary flooding of water, e.g. for use on ship decks - limited ingress permitted.
7 Protected against the effect of immersion between 15 cm and 1 m.
8 Protects against long periods of immersion under pressure.

Light Spectrum

Spectrum is double color after spectral dispersion system by dispersion of monochromatic light according to the size of the
wavelength (or frequency) sequential pattern, called the optical spectrum. Is the largest part of the visible spectrum in spectrum
electromagnetic spectrum in the visible part of the human eye, in this wavelength range of electromagnetic radiation called
visible light. Spectrum does not contain visual can distinguish all the colors of the human brain, such as brown and pink.

Light waves are generated by atoms internal movement of electrons. The inner electrons of atoms of each substance in the
movement, so the light waves, they are also different. The glow and absorb light of different materials in the study, have
important theoretical and practical significance, has become a specialized subject, spectroscopy.