THE SHEPHERD ENERGY CONSERVATION UNIT is designed on the basis of technology that even though the rated voltage is specified by lamp manufacturer to start fluorescent and gas discharge lamps, the resulted arc can be sustained & stabilize at lower voltage also. Fluorescent and HID Lightings systems, HID Lighting includes Metal halide, High pressure sodium and Mercury vapor lamps do not have linear Lumens - Watts curve. i.e., the increased power will not give you a proportional increase in light output (lumens), Conversely, slight reduction of the power supplied does not reduce the light output proportionally.
This voltage reduction is achieved by introducing virtually less impedance in the path to reduce power consumption at optimum level to stabilize the lamp without noticeable reduction in light level.
The SHEPHERD ECU allows the HID and Fluorescent lamps to supply full power for a certain pre-selected time at the factory, usually between 10 and 15 minutes. This allows the lamps to become fully charged and ionized. When the lamp ionization process is complete, the SHEPHERD ECU reduces the input power to the lamps and switch the SHEPHERD ECU operation to the energy saving mode without affecting the lighting system component at the facility. Since the lights have achieved full ionization, they will maintain a high degree of brightness despite the reduction in the input nominal voltage.
