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running 100v compact fluros on 240v

Hi, Just come back from overseas and brought back a few compact fluros that are much brighter than the ones in oz. Also they have a dome on them and look like normal globes which saves you damaging the glass spiral inside.

Anyway of course they work with a 100v step down xformer but Im wondering is there a cheaper smaller and lighter way to do this?

I did notice they sell international travellers mini xformers that dont have wirewound xformers but rather an scr that chops the 240v sine wave in half - enabling you to run 100v hairdriers , chargers etc on 240v.

Can I just feed the top half of 240v sine wave to run these 100v compact fluros? I imagine they have their own solid state inverter inside them..

Any ideas appreciated.

Reply to
george
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Even though it is risky, (AND I HAVE NOT TRIED IT) there is a chance that they might happily run directly from 240v.

All 240v ones that I have tried so far (about 5 different brands including philips and GE), happily run from 120v US mains, so its quite feasible that these things (like almost all switchmode power supplies nowadays) are made for universal world voltages and therefore would work.

Its worth a try. I dont see how it would damage the CFL, however if the device put out a high frequency AC (unlikely) - the CFL's internal mains rectifier diodes would be too slow recovery to work properly from this.

Reply to
Kr

Some 110V CFLs have a voltage doubling rectifier - that is they have 2 reservoir electrolytics in series with the junction between them connected to one of the AC terminals of the bridge rectifier. If this is the case you can disable the voltage doubling function by separating the junction of the caps from the rectifier, but 2 equal capacitors in series is half the capacitance of each, so if you can get suitably rated (at least 400V WKG) caps at twice the capacitance of the originals its worthwhile doing the upgrade.

Reply to
ian field

Try your local VJN dollar franchise. some of them have the 30 Watt compact fluro. just be away that if you "tap" the globe, they fractured much easier than the other brands (back to the 20W free hand for green energy.com)

Reply to
Terryc

Interestingly, have discovered an even BRIGHTER solution. National make a 55w 40cm double tube that fits in a desk lamp. This thing must be the brightest fluro lamp I have ever seen! 55watts - must be equiv of a 100w incandecent lamp. It has to be seen to be believed. Sure its a lot longer than a spiral tube but as far as efficiency, it must be the best to date. I will look at using them in an off grid situation, just need to find a 240v inverter, as again its a 100v inverter that drives it.

thanks all

Reply to
george

1) if you are happy with them that long, why not use standard fluros? 2) If you are off-grid, have you looked for units/circuits to drive these directly instead of going through an inverter which makes double "electronic" handling?
Reply to
Terryc

it would be equivalent to a 250w incandecant bulb, and in terms of % efficiency - it wouldn't be much different to other CFL (though if you needed one 50w light, it might be a little more efficient than 5x10w units)

Actually you can also buy 50w CFL's at bunnings in the NELSON brand.

You could just buy the 12v/24v CFL's and connect them to the appropriate battery, (or use the CFL inverter kit from Oatley Electronics.)

Reply to
Kr

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