2 pin compact fluorescent lamp to 4 pin socket?

[flippityflop1]

so i got these 4 CFLs:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/161173123039

they are 2 pin and i don`t wanna buy a ballast for each and i think we have a few busted screw-on CFL (

) in a box in our garage.

so i thought i could just rip off the electronic ballast off the busted screw-on CFLs and then connect the 2 pin lamps there. just so happens, as i`ve read more into screw-on CFLs and what i saw as i opened one of them, is that they have 4 connectors that connect to the raw fluorescent tube itself... wired that way because integrated to it`s ballast is also a starter.

i`ve read that the 2 pin CFLs that i got from ebay have their own starter, but a separate ballast (external of the lamp), that`s why they`re only 2 pin.

so i was wondering how can i connect the 4-connector electronic ballast (with it`s own starter) taken from a screw-on, to a 2 pin lamp that i got from ebay??


-----
another option is ripping open the 2 pin lamp i got from ebay and then removing it`s starter and then connecting the 4-connector electronic ballast of a screw-on.

but i haven`t actually opened a lamp to know if i can safely rip off the starter and end up with 4 connectors from it.

 

[audioguru2]

A 4-pins compact fluorescent lamp tube has a filament at each end for starting.

A 2-pins compact fluorescent lamp is probably VERY OLD and used a huge and heavy inductor as a ballast to provide a high voltage spike to start.

It is too bad that you bought old junk from e-bay.

 

[Hero999]

Seriously, save yourself the trouble and buy a ballast. The electronic ballast inside the screw fitting CFL will be tailored to deliver the correct current to that lamp. The lamp needs a ballast to limit the current to the correct level, in order for it to work properly.

 

[flippityflop1]

A 4-pins compact fluorescent lamp tube has a filament at each end for starting.

A 2-pins compact fluorescent lamp is probably VERY OLD and used a huge and heavy inductor as a ballast to provide a high voltage spike to start.

It is too bad that you bought old junk from e-bay.

you probably thought i bought these:

these are what i got (CFLs):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331138643631

 

[audioguru2]

I have some modern CFL light bulbs that have burned out. Their glass coil has 4-wires, not 2-wires and there is a filament at each end the same as those huge old glass fluorescent tubes.

I saw 2-wire CFL glass lamps about 18 years ago because my daughter had one for her desk light.

 

[flippityflop1]

you mean to say i should've gotten these ??:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321293131731  (36W)

about $~28 total (price + shipping) -- hardly inexpensive. i wasn't just buying any CFL (which are around $~7 or so), these are UV lamps.


well, the four 9W "old" UV CFLs that i bought were practically just a dollar each ($~6 total) and i thought finding the appropriate ballast was just easy peezy.

 

[Hero999]

Those cheap old lamps sound too cheap to be any good.

Yes, you need a four pin lamp for a four pin ballast but a 9W ballast won't drive a 36W tube.

Why not buy a UV CFL with the ballast built-in?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/UV-BLACKLIGHT-BULB-compact-fluorescent-cfl-PARTY-blacklite-15w-screw-in-base-NEW-/310436043164?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&hash=item48476e199c
http://www.ebay.com/itm/25w-UV-Black-Light-Bulb-Compack-Fluorescent-Light-25W-Bulb-E26-Standard-North-/141254573924?pt=US_Light_Bulbs&hash=item20e36dbf64
http://www.amazon.com/Fluorescent-Standard-American-Household-Ultraviolet/dp/B0097C8H5C/ref=pd_cp_hi_2
http://www.amazon.com/Satco-S7277-Spiral-Color-Blacklight/dp/B003U674VO/ref=pd_cp_hi_3

 

[audioguru2]

you mean to say i should've gotten these ??:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321293131731  (36W)

about $~28 total (price + shipping) -- hardly inexpensive. i wasn't just buying any CFL (which are around $~7 or so), these are UV lamps.

Are you trying to kill bugs with UV?
The 36W glass light looks like two 2-pins lights side-by-side. No filaments.

 

[flippityflop1]

Are you trying to kill bugs with UV?

i'm trying to make a cheap UV exposure box... this time, only for curing solder mask.

 

[flippityflop1]

UV-curing solder masks, i've read somewhere, cures at ~365nm, which is right in the middle of UV-A (black light) wavelength, so this should work just fine.

but i'm thinking of also using it in the future for making perchlorate salts by exposing chloride salts.

 

[Hero999]

I can assure you a black light will work for PCB exposure - I've done it before with good results.