Sentry AT-2 air thermal fluorescent starters

This is for those of you who requested it. Just before the glowtube starters were invented, there were air thermal starters, which were invented by GE. Then came the glowtube starters, which were invented by Westinghouse. There was a brief competition, then the glowtube design won. This is how the air thermal starters work. They have no glowtube, instead having a few metal strips and wires as well as a resistor with a heater coil wrapped around it. They don't give off very much blinkage, instead having just end glow and then turning on, like today's programmed start electronic ballasts, except that the air thermal starters are sometimes very slow and can take a long time to start the lamp. I also fire up glowtube starters in the same fixture for comparison reasons. Anyways I have since given most of them to collectors. I'm keeping one or two for reference. Anyways, for those of you who requested this video, here it is. Enjoy!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• air
• thermal
• preheat
• fluorescent
• starters
• end
• glow
• on
• programmed
• start
• blink
• or
• lack
• there
• of

[dieselducy]

i would LOVE an air thermal starter!

[alexmacelectronics]

I have a glow tube type starter that acts exactly like air thermal starters. The contacts close and for at least 15 seconds- it preheats the lamp and then it starts it up. I opened the starter to find that it was a glow tube starter.

[clairesreelymovin]

hehe It causes problems with air thermals because glow tube starters react alot faster to power loss. A glow starter will attempt to refire the tube immediatly where as the thermal starters will take longer to respond.

Hoooowever, thermal starters will be kinder to the tubes, no blink start.

[wayneskinner]

that took rather a long time to come on! that was actually about twice as long as one of the lights in my room and i thought that was slow

[rickyatHK]

I love these air thermal starters , but I can't find them in Hong Kong!

[brianfromLI]

I like this video, because I now know what the "air thermal" starters performed like...I would have thought that the early starters would have been more blinky, but I guess not...