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Shop lights or IceCap
At 03:48 AM 10/6/98 -0400, Anthony wrote:
>I have read the APD archives about ballasts, and I'm still not convinced.
OK,
>so the little cheap ballasts in the shop lights may fizzle sooner; so
what, the
>whole light cost $8. So the bulbs may not last as long; so what, they
cost less
>than $5.
>I can replace parts in my current setup for YEARS before it would cost me as
>much as one electronic ballast
Anthony, your analysis is spot on as far as it goes. I just finished a
"dream" hood (with bugs, that took some of the gloss off the dream) and it
cost me $40 for the ballast, $55 for the plastic, and $15 for miscellaneous
hardware. In my case I needed 36" long, so a shop light was out. And
this is in my dining room too, so a shop light was out. But it was
expensive. My analysis was diy was cheaper than prefab ($250+).
My fixture probably draws about 25 watts less than an equivalent shop light
(because of ballast efficiency). So at 4000 hours a year that's about $10
in electricity saved.
In your case, you spent maybe $30 plus paint, etc. Your ballasts will
probably last four years, then you are out another $8 each. So you paid
$30 down and $14 per year (plus tubes). My ballast will probably go for 20
years without replacement. I paid $110 down and $2 per year. Without
interest I break even in about 6.5 years, with 10% interest I break even
in about 12 years.
From a purely fiscal point of view, it depends on how long you expect to be
in the hobby.
--
Dave Gomberg, San Francisco mailto:gomberg at wcf_com
<a href="http://www.wcf.com/wcf">My home page</a>
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