Originally Posted By: B23Originally Posted By: fw707Tim,
My CM and another digital scale both stay on all the time, and they are both on a surge protector.
X2 Mine are setup the same and have been left turned on for years.
I've read where some believe fluorescent lights mess with digital scales but I don't have fluorescent lighting in my gun room so I have no first hand knowledge of this.
it can depend on the type of lighting.
older fixtures with t12 lamps in them (the big fat 1.5" buggers) were commonly run with magnetic ballasts that were very lightly (if at all) shielded. newer fixtures are run by electronic ballasts. This includes the t8 (1" lamps) and t5 (5/8" lamps), as well as the curly CFL bulbs.
i suspect it was the magnetic fields generated by these older shop light fixtures that caused the variation in charge weights. additonally i also suspect that is less common of an issue as folks upgrade to newer lighting - especially LED's.
i used to run mine right under a electronic ballast T5 fixture and never expierenced any significant (within the general tolerances of the chargemaster itself) difference in how my chargemaster dispensed charges.
Quote:Electronic Ballasts
Electronic ballasts alter the flow of electricity in the light bulb by using a series of induction coils that are separated from one another. They also change the frequency of the electrical current without changing the voltage. While magnetic ballasts in fluorescent lamps work at a frequency of 60hz, electronic ballasts greatly increase that frequency to 20,000hz.
Due to the very high frequency, you will not see the lights flickering and will not hear a buzzing sound from fluorescent lamps using electronic ballasts.
Magnetic Ballasts
In contrast to the multiple induction coils on the electronic type, magnetic ballasts only use one single coil. These ballasts can be located inside your light sockets between the plug for the light bulb and the power chord.
In magnetic ballasts, current flows through coils of copper wire before moving on to the light bulb. When the copper is exposed to the current, it generates a magnetic field that captures most of the current that might have continued to flow. In this way, it regulates the electricity in that only small increments actually continue onward to the light bulb.
The current that is passed on depends on the thickness and the length of the copper coil. This inconsistent flow of the current is what causes the lights of the lamp to flicker and also creates the buzzing sound.