🔍 Key Concepts

• Transformers change voltage and current levels but do not create light themselves • Three-phase shipboard distribution systems often use higher voltages for transmission and lower voltages for loads like lighting • Fluorescent lighting needs special equipment (like ballasts) to start and stabilize the arc—consider whether that is the role of a transformer bank or a different device

💭 Think About

• Ask yourself: What is the basic function of any power transformer in an electrical system? Does it usually step voltage up, step it down, or directly create light? • Which component in a fluorescent lighting circuit is normally responsible for starting and controlling the arc—the transformer bank feeding the panel, or a local device in/near the fixture? • Think about why ship generators might produce a relatively high voltage. What needs to happen to that voltage before it safely feeds individual lighting circuits?

✅ Before You Answer

• Verify how a transformer functions: it transfers power between circuits by changing voltage and current levels, not by generating light • Distinguish between a system-level component (feeding many circuits) and a fixture-level component (inside or next to a lamp) when deciding which choice matches a three-phase transformer bank • Confirm which option describes changing the overall distribution voltage to a level appropriate for lighting loads, rather than affecting only fluorescent lamps or arcs