What Is Electrocution?

Passage of electric current though human body is called Electrocution.

Can we use MCB instead of ELCB to prevent from Electrocution?

Usually not. MCB doesn't get tripped in case of passage of small to the earth human body whereas ELCB gets tripped in case of even small current passage.

WHY Electronic ELCB + MCB ?

Conventional Electrical/mechanical ELCBs are generally available in the sensitivity range of 30 mA/100 mA/300 Ma, Whereas Electronic ELCB offers variable sensitivity range of 3 mA - 30 mA/several mA range.

Electric current is dangerous when current through human body exceeds certain minimum value for certain time. Based on research data , effect of AC current is classified below :

Upto 10 mA	Sensation only
10mA - 15 mA	Painful.
15 mA - 30 mA	Control on muscles is lost.
30 mA - 50 mA	Breathing difficult & possible fibrillation.
50 mA - 100 mA	Ventricular fibrillation of heart.
100 mA - 500 mA	Fatal, Death-Cardiac arrest/nervous breakdown.
Above 500 mA	Causes Electrical Sparks which may cause fire.

What is role of Ballast?

As driver runs the vehicle in safe way so the ballast runs/regulates the current that flows to the tube.

What is role of starter?

To glow the tube, Higher voltage (i.e:500V) is required to ionize the gas inside the tube and this is served by starter along with Magnetic Ballast. Once gas is ionized, the conductive path is formed between two ends of the tube. After this phenomenon there is no need of starter. Starter is not required while operating the tube with Electronic Ballast.

What is difference between Magnetic Ballast and Electronic Ballast?

In the beginning there were only magnetic ballast made of copper , aluminum coil or transformers to run the Fluorescent lamp/tube. Weight of magnetic Ballast is higher and cost relatively lower. Main draw back of the magnetic Ballast is having lower efficiency. Now a days magnetic Ballast is replaced by Electronic Ballast as it exhibits so many merits over magnetic Ballast.

Does the magnetic ballast allow to run the tube at lower voltage conditions?

Generally magnetic Ballast does not allow to run the tube below the 180V, In contrary Electronic ballast can run the tube even at 60V.

What is Flickering?

ON/OFF Cycle of the lamp/tube extending towards normal operation
Flickering is observed in tube with Magnetic Ballast as it runs @ 50Hz/60Hz, whereas In case of Electronic Ballast it runs at 25000Hz - 30000Hz, therefore flickering is highly minimized. It reduces eye fatigue in some people.

What is Ballast Factor (BF)?

Light o/p of lamp operated by specific ballast BF= -----------------------------------------------------------        Light o/p of lamp operated by standard reference ballast

Higher BF	higher wattage consumption, increases the light o/p and lowers life of tube.
Lower BF	conserves the energy but decreases light o/p

What is Power Factor (PF) ?

Wattage enters the lamp PF = -------------------------------         Wattage enters the Ballast

PF closer to 1 has very high efficiency, means losses are highly minimized.

PF > 0.7	Considered higher power factor ( Electronic Ballast)
05 < PF < 0.7	Normal Power Factor (Standard Magnetic Ballast)
PF < 0.5	Poor Power Factor (Magnetic ballast of Poor quality)

What is Crest Factor (CF)?

Starting Wattage consumed by lamp/tube with ballast CF = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------         wattage consumed by lamp/tube with ballast during normal operation

CF is normally 1.4 - 1.7 More CF reduces life of lamp

What is THD?

THD stands for Total Harmonic Distortion
Harmonic distortion is a result of feed back / deviation from sinusoidal wave form & with reference to fundamental frequency.

In industry standard	THD < 20%
Usually In Magnetic Ballast there is higher THD i.e
90% - 120% If THD is more than 150%, extreme heat is generated may result in fire. Initial 5-6 harmonics are considered very significant.