bsmart

There's no magic to the starter part of this. It only does the job of getting the lamp to ignite. The increased power is a function of the series arrangement of the ballast and the capacitor on every other ballast as mentioned by Philips. This arrangement improves the PF Power Factor thus giving you a overall higher effective voltage at lamp. My guess is this is why you are experiencing frequent lamp failures. If you have your incoming power boosted via buck/booster, your may be applying 240-250 volts to your lamps. The older Cosmolux units can't take it. I've discussed this with Frank at Cosmolux in the past and they modified the cathode in the 200W lamp to survive these higher ratings.

corvette

Quote:
On 2002-10-25 12:29, bsmart wrote:
TenTen, must have had too much to drink when making that post. As Lampman says, the starter doesn't affect the output of the lamp AFTER it gets turned on. On the other hand there is a move afoot toward electronic ballasts, and this is another story altogether. They can make a difference in the output of the lamp and extend lamp life as well.
Your quote in the last sentence of this message says that electronic starters can make a difference in the output of the lamp I understand the longevity part.