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Lighting the refit with cold cathodes need help

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978 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  jwrjr  
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#1 ·
Hi all! Just wondering if anyone knows this. I've been trying to determine power requirements for lighting the polar lights refit, with cold cathodes. I have been to many sites trying to figure out how many milliamps a 12 inch tube draws. Some sites say there tubes only draw 5 milliamps, while others are as high as 300. Thats a huge difference, so whos right? :confused: I only have a power supply thats rated at 1500 milliamps and I dont want to overload it. I will be using 4 tubes, one 12 inch, two 6inch and one either a four or six inch. I will also be using around 21 leds at 20 milliamps each. If anyone can give me any ideas it would be appreciated. :)


Thanks!!
 
J
#2 ·
For the CCFL tubes, both numbers are technically correct. But there's a catch. The tubes draw 5 ma each - at 600 to 800 volts. To generate this voltage, the power supply (called an 'inverter') will draw 300ma or more.
It looks as though your 1500 ma power supply should do fine.
 
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