Anyway to stop the humming of florescent bulbs?

[coffeeguy89]

Is there anyway to stop the humming from florescent fixtures? I have 2 separate fixtures, one for his uvb bulb, and one for a 6500k bulb.

 

[kongchi]

Just wondering how big are your bulbs?

 

[Vegas Chad]

The hum is caused by the transformer/ballast inside the fixture as the voltage/harmonic needed to fire the florescent bulb is higher than your normal house voltage. The hum you hear is this action working, specificity the harmonic (hum) part. They will always make a sound to some point however to combat this use a high quality electronic ballast fixture, or replace old/worn magnetic ballasts which are standard in cheap fixtures. It kind of goes back to; you get what you pay for.

 

[coffeeguy89]

I'm currently using 18" bulbs. The fixtures are the type typically used on fish tanks

 

[summoner12]

A magnetic ballast is humming at 120Hz.... an electronic ballast, if you ever hear one... is humming at about 15kHz. you most likely won't hear an electronic ballast because they are..... wait for it..... electronic meaning they have some brains and can adjust for current draw... voltage... yadda yadda....

basically if you hear a hum you have, like Chad said, a magnetic ballast. AKA POS and worth changing out.

Here is a thread I made a while back... might help ya out if you plan to change the ballast of the fixture. https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-t12-t8-ballast-change-31490/

BTW... the cheap $14 dual 48" fixtures at Lowe's have an electronic ballast that will operate T8 AND T12 lamps.... not bad for a cheap fixture... I will say this... the reflector is much to be desired, I highly recommend using aluminum foil to help direct light downward.

 

[summoner12]

I'm currently using 18" bulbs. The fixtures are the type typically used on fish tanks

OK... then there is hardly a ballast in this fixture and you might want to just buy a new one... you most likely have poor power to the home. It is most likely noisy.

 

[kongchi]

if you have a ZooMed Fixture, I have heard the 20 inchers (18 inch bulb) has a magnetic ballast while the 30 inchers (24 inch bulb) has the electronic ballasts. Though I could have mixed up my info =P

 

[coffeeguy89]

Thanks for the tips everybody The only real reason I'm currently using such cheap fixtures is because I had them lying around the house. Does anyone know of a good dual fixture with an electronic ballast and a nice reflector?

 

[summoner12]

Thanks for the tips everybody The only real reason I'm currently using such cheap fixtures is because I had them lying around the house. Does anyone know of a good dual fixture with an electronic ballast and a nice reflector?

What size fixture are you looking for?

 

[coffeeguy89]

Probably just another 18", I just don't want something that's going to hang over the edges of his cage.