How far can you extend fluorescent lamps from their transformers?

I have found an old, stinky fish tank that was thrown away and my friend wanted to put a light in his small backyard shed. The fish tank has a fluorescent lamp inside the top. I want to know if I can extend the lamp about 20 meters away from the ballast it has. I would rather send the output of the ballast than the 240v AC under the lawn (if I had to I would use pipe). How do you recommend I do this?



ThanksHow far can you extend fluorescent lamps from their transformers?If the lamp is wired for 240, you don't have many choices. A trigger-start ballast (no little starters with neons inside) will send out a high voltage pulse to start the lamp and then lower the voltage to keep the lamp from drawing too much current. Your wiring will have to be rated for this pulse. If it is a light that has a push and hold to start, you will need a 4(maybe 3) wire feed plus ground for the light, again rated for 240 volts. I would drop my 240 voltage to a safer 12 volts, run it underground, and reverse the operation in the garage with another transformer. If you don't have the parts it will become expensive. The solar powered shed lights are a great way to avoid running wires. Check Harbor Freight for sales. Also, the further from a ballast a lamp operates, the more electrical noise it will generate.How far can you extend fluorescent lamps from their transformers?watch transformers in cartoonnetworkHow far can you extend fluorescent lamps from their transformers?You could have the ballast in the house, but I don't think there is much benefit. The ballast is only an inductor so you would still get a nearly 240V shock if you touched the "cold" end of it.

Personally, I would choose to run 240V mains to the shed, then you can switch the light on from inside the shed, and you could fit a socket in there as well. Use a circuit breaker (RCD) on the house side to protect against damaged wiring and water ingress.

Run the cable through some PVC pipe under the lawn, or you may be able to get some armoured outdoor cable.



I bet some electrically qualified person is going to tell you that the regulations say you are not allowed to do this yourself.How far can you extend fluorescent lamps from their transformers?
Whether you are allowed to do this yourself depends on local codes. In some places it would be OK in others not. You are aabviously outside the USA so I could not begin to guess what a correct installation would be.



Here you would bury the wires in PVC conduit 18" deep or you could use direct burial cable 36" deep.