Ballast

A component of conventional control gear. It controls the current through the lamp, and is used with discharge lighting, including fluorescent, sodium, mercury and metal halide lamps. The term is sometimes used loosely to mean control gear. Also called a choke.

Building lighting

The lighting of the main surfaces of a building, particularly walls; the surround to work stations and in large rooms, the ceiling. Building lighting design will depend on the required visual amenity and the architectural design, and should be considered alongside the design of task lighting.

Choke

Alternative name for ballast.

Colour rendering

An indicator of how accurately colours can be distinguished under different light sources. The colour rendering index compares the ability of different lights to render colours accurately with the Ra measurement of 100 being ‘ideal’. Colour rendering properties of a light source are specified by the colour rendering index (CRI). See also colour temperature and CRI.

Colour temperature

Also known as colour appearance, the colour temperature is the colour of ‘white’ the light appears. It is measured in Kelvin, and ranges from 1,800K (very warm, amber) to 8,000K (cool). 6,500K is daylight. There are many colours of ‘white’ available. For general use these are: a warm white (2,600 to 2,700 degrees Kelvin), a medium white (3,000 to 3,500 degrees Kelvin) and a cool white (blue-y 4,000 degrees Kelvin).

Control gear 

A ‘package’ of electrical or electronic components including ballast, power factor correction capacitor and starter. High-frequency electronic control gear may include other components to allow dimming etc.

Diffuser

A translucent screen used to shield a light source and at the same time soften the light output and distribute it evenly.

Discharge lamp

A lamp which produces illumination via electric discharge through a gas, a metal vapour or a mixture of gases and vapours.

Efficacy (luminous efficacy)

The ratio of light emitted by a lamp to the power consumed by it, that is, lumens per Watt. When the control gear losses are included, it is expressed as lumens per circuit Watt.

Filament lamp 

A lamp which produces illumination by heating a filament until it glows.

Illuminance

The amount of light falling on an area, measured in lux. 1 lux is equal to one lumen per square metre.

Kelvin

A measure of colour temperature for lamps. Kelvin is oC + 273.

Luminaire

A light fitting and lamp including all components for fixing and protecting the lamps, as well as connecting them to the supply.

Lumen

Unit of luminous flux, used to describe the amount of light produced by a lamp or falling on a surface.

Lux

An international unit of measurement of the intensity of light. 1 lux is equal to the illumination of a surface one metre away from a single candle.

Maintained illuminance

The minimum illuminance averaged over the reference surface at the time maintenance has to be carried out (by replacing lamps and/or cleaning luminaires and room surfaces).

Rated average lamp life

The time when half the number of lamps in a batch fail under test conditions.

Re-strike

The time taken for a lamp to illuminate after being switched off and then on again.

Start-up

The time taken for a lamp to illuminate after being switched on from cold.

Task lighting

The lighting provided for specific tasks within a lighting design. For example, task lighting design will depend on the particular tasks undertaken and the building lighting design.

Tungsten lamps

GLS General lighting service (incandescent lamps).

High pressure sodium lamps

SON Used in this text as a general abbreviation for high pressure sodium lamps and would have either a ‘T’ (tubular) or ‘E’ (elliptical).

SON-DL Used for SON deluxe lamps, which have an improved colour rendering.

White sodium High pressure sodium lamp which achieves high Ra rating and around 2,500 degrees Kelvin.

Mercury lamps

MBF/U Used for standard mercury filled lamps, available in elliptical or internally silvered reflector types or with integral ballast.

Multi-vapour lamps

MBI/MH/HID/HQI/HPI Sometimes used to denote multi-vapour lamps.

CMD Metal halide lamp which has a ceramic arc tube and retains its initial colour properties longer, therefore mainly eliminating ‘colour shift’.

LED Light emitting diodes

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