Fulham questions

[rossb]

I recently discovered first hand the T8's need more power to start and to operate than the T12's

Don't listen to this guy

I meant to say the T8's need more power to start than the T12's but less power to operate.

In searching though I did find this interesting tidbit.
http://www.americanfluorescent.com/page12.html
Note the little chart down the page a bit..the aprox input watts. If you are using the lamp wattage to calculate your power bill you will be quite a bit off.

A missing piece in this discussion (power = current*voltage*PF) is the power factor. The power factor is the lag is the phase between currrent and voltage and is usually arround .9 and it applies to all ballasts.

Also of interest is this comparison of the lumens per watt of the various CF/fluorescent incandesent lights
http://www.americanfluorescent.com/page11.html