Fluorescent lights (Was: Full immersion emulation)

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Paul Koning

    >>> terrible fluorescent lighting.

    >> There's another kind? :-)

    > in fact you can get LEDs that fit in fluorescent fixtures, either as is

I've been looking for LED replacements, but I haven't seen them; I'd have
thought that that would be a pretty popular item, but I haven't seen them in
any local stores. Are they only available as an online option?

    > or (probably a better choice) with the ballast removed.

Definitely - ballasts are such a pain. Actually, let me be more accurate: the
ballasts in 4' (40W) lights (where they put the two bulbs in series) are a
pain.

The new ballasts for the 8' lights (a couple of decades back, in the US,
regulations mandated a change) are actually a delight; you have to re-wire old
fixtures a bit to install them (since the new ones no longer run the lights in
series), but the upside is that 8' bulbs now either work - or don't.

This is distinctly unlike the 4' ones, where bulb X will work when paired with
bulb Y, but not when paired with bulb Z. (Because 40W bulbs are wired in
series pairs, and as they age, their characteristics change.)

I don't suppose there are ballasts for 40W bulbs that _don't_ wire them in
series?

	Noel