# Fluorescent Starter Wattage - Multiple Bulbs



## Nash (Sep 16, 2010)

I've been dabbling in the popular fluorescent starter hack for a couple years with some success here and there. It's a quick fix to add some creepiness to the place. Up until this year, I've only used it on a single bulb.

This year, my wife found me an old hanging chandelier fitted with 12 candelabra base light bulb sockets. I added a starter to the power line, but the more bulbs I add, the less it flickers. Looks great with two bulbs - and hardly any difference with all 12.

Anyway, my question is - would it help to add a second starter in-line? Or, is there another way to achieve maximum flickiness?


----------



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Not sure about the exact answer to this. I used an FS-2 to add flicker to some of those orange halloween string lights. It seems to work great. FS-5 didn't work so well. Barely any flicker, and the starter got very hot in a short amount of time.


----------



## RowlandHarris (Sep 11, 2009)

My guess is that you have too much wattage for the starter. Usually, you want 40 watts or less (total). If you used 7 watt bulbs, you'd still have 84 watts (12 bulbs x 7 watts per bulb) which would probably be too much. Can you find good looking 4 watt bulbs? Most of those seem to be nightlight type bulbs with a rounded top. Maybe dip them into a high temp clear epoxy and hang them upside down to dry (to make a flame tip). Test one first to make sure you don't start a fire!!! 

The alternative is to wire the bulbs separately into multiple circuits - with each circuit having its own starter. Note that the lights would not all flicker at the same time.


----------



## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

The problem from what I can see is that at a certain wattage, the starter ... starts. Then you dont get a flicker. I have the same thing when I hook up 120 watts of light to one. Its just steady. Also, there is a long pause at the beginning before the flicker effect kicks in that means whatever it is needs to always be on, rather than triggered. There are drawbacks to the starter, thats for sure.


----------



## Joe_31st (Aug 20, 2013)

I made one of these hacks too. I also use the FS-2 starter. I had read that you want about 40 watts or less per starter (like RowlandHarris mentioned). My hack worked pretty great last year for a lighting up a "crystal" ball (which was really a round frosted glass ceiling light fixture with a flickering green bulb inside flipped upside down).

The problem I have is finding low wattage bulbs so you can string up a few. The night light bulbs have small sockets which are hard to find to create for lighting props.


----------



## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

So have we tried wiring up some in parallel? So 10 bulbs equals 10 fs-2 starters? Anybody do that yet?


----------



## Joe_31st (Aug 20, 2013)

you saying one FS-2 per bulb? would get costly to build and stuff I think.


----------



## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Nah. The FS-2's are like, what, .99 cents a piece? So for 10 it's 10 bucks? That's a pack of smokes and a coffee in Wisconsin. And still way cheaper than any system that will control that many lights. And some of the light controllers don't make that good a flicker anyway.

It would be an ugly looking setup, 10 in parallel, lol. Sort of an unwieldy beast. And then you still couldn't take a light off, it would be for THAT specific number of bulbs. DC is just way better, IMO. But a flicker box and, and if you are doing some serious lighting for a haunt, 100 lights is easy, and 100 pin spots and floods and flicker boxes and dimmers, man, that's getting into the thousands. Hard to do for a home haunt.


----------



## Joe_31st (Aug 20, 2013)

You have a point there. I guess I was also figuring the cost of the starter sockets. Those cost me like 3.50 a piece at Orchard (never shopping there again - too expensive). I actually followed these instructions: Hack a Power Strip with Starter sockets


----------

