Life of Electronic ballast

[saumya_85]

life of electronic ballast

How to measure the life of electronic ballast for HID lamp?

 

[pranam77]

electronic ballast life time

No measurements can done to calculate the life of an electronic ballasts or any other electronic gadget. It all depends on the Volatge, Frequency of operation, Components used, the Load, and much more parameters. Any way i will will be obliged if you can share any HID ballast designs with me?

 

[cristivasilache]

coponents used in electronic ballast

it's almost impossibe to estimate the life of an electronic product with hobby resources. the estimations made by manufaturers are made with complex calculations of some measured parameters of a high number of products lot which undergo aging test in laboratory controlled enviroment. they use to call it MTFB (mean time between failure). there are simply too many variables involved to be able to estimate precisely.
and of course, for some products can estimate the life span after you get those formulas. for example for classic light bulbs was determined that the lifetime is proportional with V E−16. this means that an slight increase of voltage will decrease lifetime very much, similar a slight decrease will increase lifetime a lot.
for critical systems where the reliability is most important, (avionics, aerospace, military, life-support) is a common practice to use redundancy, if one stage fails, another will take his "job".

 

[saumya_85]

ballast life time

If any one go through the Technical data sheet of a any ballast maker they are clearly mention the life time of their ballast.

How can they assure?

 

[farhill]

all about electronic ballast

I think besides doing calculation, the maker just simply ignites some samples till they ballast. Then take the average as the life time.

 

[saumya_85]

electronic ballast life span

I think besides doing calculation, the maker just simply ignites some samples till they ballast. Then take the average as the life time.

Thank you for the reply. But i didn't get get you. Could explain me briefly.

 

[mvs sarma]

electronic ballast+life

In Indian circumstances, with fluctuating power supply and with spikes in the mains supply, perhaps no test possible.
Once these parameters are fixed, perhaps one could put 100 such ballasts for life test and average the the life there on.

The first victim could be chokes and toroid transformers , if not professionally wound.
Sarma

 

[FvM]

lift time of electronic ballast

As lifetime of electronical devices is a statistical parameter (usually expressed as MTBF), it can only be estimated rather than measured. You should consider, that a numerial MTBF value doesn't tell about a variance. With some devices that have an intrinsic wear mechanism, e.g. light bulbs, the statistical lifetime expectation is also a good estimation for individual devices. Electronical devices lifetime has a much higher variance, usually.

If a manufacturer gives MTBF data, they are not necessarily calculated from measurement results. They may be calculated from individual component MTBF data as well.

 

[mvs sarma]

mtbf life test calculation rules with temperature

In an equipment, suppose for components, say A to N, used in a design, with MTBFs, say Ma to Mn, do we arrive at the equipment MTBF by
1. averaging or
2. taking worst components MTBF and use some percentage of this lower value to cope for assembly , soldering etc ?

 

[domino999]

ballast life of electronic ballast

Usually, manufacturers provide 3-5 years guarantee for electronic ballast

 

[pranam77]

manufacturing process of electronic ballast

Usually, manufacturers provide 3-5 years guarantee for electronic ballast

Just providing Guarantee for a year or so doesent detrmine the life. Its purely a marketing Gimmick to attract more customers.

 

[saumya_85]

expected life electronic ballast

I got document ?
Could anybody suggest me Whether it is right or wrong?

 

[mvs sarma]

hid lifetime calculations

I got document ?
Could anybody suggest me Whether it is right or wrong?

please read the very first para which says,"Ballast lifetime calculations are one of the most difficult items to be calculated because it is determined by the lifetime of all the components used and the amount of stress (voltage, current and temperature) on each of these components."

later in the article, this parameter doesn't appear to have been dealt with.
, How about the spikes deliberately created, and the voltage extremes like 120 in the peak hours and near 300 in slack hours of the rural belt. heavy fluctuations due to motors operating. Lightening spikes during mansoon season. All these parameters contribute to early failures. lack of quality control and rushed manufacture to make things chap, lets down the life. Most probable failures are attributable to cheap wire used for the inductor used in the designs, that land the component to partial shot.etc


Thus while a paper may speak in support of their manufacturing process, that alone may not reflect the reality, i fear.

Sarma

 

[saumya_85]

electronic ballast wrong current

I got document ?
Could anybody suggest me Whether it is right or wrong?

please read the very first para which says,"Ballast lifetime calculations are one of the most difficult items to be calculated because it is determined by the lifetime of all the components used and the amount of stress (voltage, current and temperature) on each of these components."

later in the article, this parameter doesn't appear to have been dealt with.
, How about the spikes deliberately created, and the voltage extremes like 120 in the peak hours and near 300 in slack hours of the rural belt. heavy fluctuations due to motors operating. Lightening spikes during mansoon season. All these parameters contribute to early failures. lack of quality control and rushed manufacture to make things chap, lets down the life. Most probable failures are attributable to cheap wire used for the inductor used in the designs, that land the component to partial shot.etc


Thus while a paper may speak in support of their manufacturing process, that alone may not reflect the reality, i fear.

Sarma

Thanks for reply.
It will really helpful to me?