[TheForge] heat-tracing flourescents? OT. Brainstorming here...

[Grover Richardson]

As far as I can tell, it's the ballasts that are causing the problem, not
the bulbs.

I just purchased a couple of 48F1359 STO-60 Thermostat;15A at 120VAC; 1/4
in. QC, Opens 55-65 F, closed below that temp type of thermostats for a
heater in a box I am building.  The idea is at cold temperatures, add a
little heat so that we don't get condensation on the electronics.  They are
$4.99 each.  For my case, I am using 28K6357 Resistor, Dale chassis mount,
50 W, 300 Ohm as my load across a 110 Vac line.  This gives me like 41 Watts
of heating power.  The Dale resistor has two screw holes and is designed to
be bolted to a heat sink (read a piece of metal) if it is to be run at full
power.

>*>-----Original Message-----
>*>From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
>*>[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
>*>Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:14 AM
>*>To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
>*>Subject: [TheForge] heat-tracing flourescents? OT. 
>*>Brainstorming here...
>*>
>*>
>*>All this discussion of lighting makes me wonder if I 
>*>couldn't make my cheapie fluorescents more convenient by 
>*>heat-tracing them.  They're already installed as swag lamps 
>*>from switched sockets.  I could use the other socket in the 
>*>pair for a strip heater of some sort, thermostated to go on 
>*>only when it's below, say, 50F.  Then I could flip the 
>*>switch, the strip heater would warm the bulb, the bulb would 
>*>go on, and the strip heater would go off when it got to 50F.
>*>
>*>Now the question is what sort of strip heater would do the 
>*>trick.  I could use an ordinaray ceramic-cloth-insulated 
>*>wired and a step-down transformer, but I'd still need a 
>*>thermostat.  I'd prefer to just use a commercial device.  
>*>Anyone know of such a thing?  It would have to be narrow 
>*>enough to be wrapped around the tube maybe once per foot of 
>*>tube length, yet not block much light.  Else, it would have 
>*>to mount on the top side of the bulb, removably.
>*>
>*>Maybe it would be easier to use a higher-temperature wire 
>*>strung well below the tube, and using a simple bimetallic 
>*>switch thermostat mounted near the tubes.  
>*>
>*>Any ideas, guys?
>*>
>*>Bruce
>*>NJ
>*>
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