Thread: Hack a Power Strip for Installation of Fluorescent Starter Sockets

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Good tutorial, thanks for sharing.

Where are you getting your flourescent starter sockets?
The only ones I've found have the bulb holders attached.
I could buy those, but I wasnt really clear how it was wires since there is only one wire coming off the starter socket. The metal strip holding the sockets together, I presume is where I would attach a wire to.?????

Lynn,
Here's a source somewhat local to you:
http://www.happcontrols.com/lighting/91003800.htm
I got mine at Home Depot, but I think they're not stocked in all of the stores. I found them in the lighting/lamp components area.

Thanks Otaku. They seem to have a $25 minimum order.....
I need to get to Home Depot. Checked Menards here.....nodda.
Home Depot is a ways away, but I may be near one soon !

Looking through the thread it has been said that this hack is for incandescent bulbs and that it won't work for fluorescents. But, what is the effect when used with CFLs?

Originally Posted by MarkOf13

Looking through the thread it has been said that this hack is for incandescent bulbs and that it won't work for fluorescents. But, what is the effect when used with CFLs?

Good question! Let's find out. I'll pull out my strip and see what happens. More to come...

Wow. I dropped in a 60W CFL with a FS-2 starter. It took about 20 secs for the flicker to start, and it was pretty slow (long on time, long off time, but still sorta random). I swapped in a FS-5 starter and the flicker effect got faster. I expected this as the FS-5's can handle higher wattage bulbs.

You know what this means, don't you? With a UV CFL bulb, you can have a flickering black light. I'm pretty sure you can't do that with a typical UV fluorescent tube, at least not easily. Since those UV CFL's are usually 13W, you would probably use a FS-2 starter for the best effect.

Markof13, that was a great suggestion!

That's great! I wanted to add flickering lights on my entry gates but when looking at the videos, it was too fast for the appearance I was after. So this looks like the way I'll go. Now to find a power strip.

By the way, the flickering UV sounds interesting. I wonder what it would look like with a FCG? Having a couple flickering (one on the left and one on of the right with different rates) instead of the single "standard" one may have a weird affect with the motion...

I know that this wont work for actual fluorescent lights but I have seen the effect done with those cover tubes that you can get for them with a couple of c7s at either end to cause a flicker type of experience I do have the whole setup and am planning on creating a tut for it. Has anyone else seen this effect done? And is there a tut on here for it?