🔍 Key Concepts

• Identify each numbered component in figure "B" (especially 3, 4, and 5) and recall the normal start‑up sequence of a preheat fluorescent lamp circuit. • Determine which component is responsible for creating the high-voltage pulse needed to strike the arc after the tube filaments (ends of component 4) have been heated. • Distinguish between a condition that affects the entire ship’s power system versus a fault confined to this one lamp circuit.

💭 Think About

• If the ends of component 4 are glowing, what does that tell you about the filament-heating and starter portion of the circuit—are they working at least partially? • In this type of circuit, when the tube repeatedly heats at the ends but never strikes an arc, which component has likely failed: the one that switches the filaments on and off, or the one that should generate a high-voltage kick when that switch opens? • Which of the answer choices describes something that is actually part of the normal operation of a fluorescent starter, and which choice describes a fault that would prevent the high-voltage starting surge?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify which component (by number) is the ballast/inductor and what its job is during start‑up. • Verify which component (by number) is the starter and that its contacts normally open and close during normal start‑up. • Check which option best explains why the lamp ends keep heating (so current is flowing) yet the tube never receives a sufficient starting voltage to ionize the gas.