Good verses bad compact fluorescent lights -- inside?

Has anybody looked at the electronics inside compact fluorescent lights and found any differences between the good and bad brands?

I have some MaxLites that quit working after 6-24 months, and they all have failed power transistors, but the big 200V, 22uF capacitor in the middle seems OK, and there's a missing positive temp. coeff. thermistor. The lamp attaches to the circuit board through wire wraps with plain copper wire that's oxidized and loose.

Reply to
larry moe 'n curly
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Has anybody looked at the electronics inside compact fluorescent lights and found any differences between the good and bad brands?

I have some MaxLites that quit working after 6-24 months, and they all have failed power transistors, but the big 200V, 22uF capacitor in the middle seems OK, and there's a missing positive temp. coeff. thermistor. The lamp attaches to the circuit board through wire wraps with plain copper wire that's oxidized and loose.

Reply to
larry moe 'n curly

It's just like any other equipment, the better stuff has better quality soldering and fewer corners cut.

Reply to
James Sweet

Right. Look for bad solder joints. These things tend to self destruct (the power transistors) when a bad connection develops.

Wire wrap isn't necessarily bad though if it's done properly even with bare copper.

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Reply to
Sam Goldwasser

It wasn't done properly in some 1970s Japanese TVs. The only joints I've had to repair on my Sears-Sanyo TVs of that vintage are the wirewraps on the flybacks.

The better compact fluorescents tend to use electrolytics rated for

125C instead of 105C or have more vent holes.
Reply to
rantonrave

Just avoid anything that says ":lights of AMerica".. They aren't made in the USA as far as I can tell and they don't last very long.

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann

Reply to
hrhofmann

LOA is the worst of the worst Chinese crap, most any CFL is Chinese these days, but some are far better than others. IIRC some of the Panasonic lamps are made in Japan and last quite well, I've also had good luck with Philips and GE. The springlamps that you can get everywhere are very hit and miss, I've had some last for far longer than their rated life, others have died in weeks. Some I've repaired just because I can, others failed in a way that killed the tube itself.

Reply to
James Sweet

It seems to be very hard to tell which ones last and which fail early. I've replaced every bulb in my house with a CFL where they will fit. Some of them are on 18 hours a day (24 hours outside).

Some of the more expensive GEs have been very reliable. Even way past their expected life, they are still working, but are getting very dim. Some cheaper spiral tube GEs had caps fail, but this was easy to repair. Eventually the tubes failed when one of the heaters opened. Surprisingly, I've yet to have a single $1 Ikea bulb fail in any way. After more than 5000 hours, all 4 are still going strong. Andy Cuffe

snipped-for-privacy@psu.edu

Reply to
Andy Cuffe

Another bad brand is ABCO, Angelo Brothers COmpany, including their incandescents.

Reply to
rantonrave

Slightly OT: bought a pocket knife at a closeouts/overstocks auction the other day; branded 'Old America Knife Company.' It is a reasonably well made--extremely sharp--piece of cutlery...at least for $5 anyway.

The inscription on one of the blades reads: "Old America Knife Company" and "Hand Made."

On the other it says "Old America", and the kicker: **"They way the same had it."**

On the tang, it says "CHINA"....

I wonder how far down the retail chain these got, before someone spotted the Engrish and pulled the remainder off the shelves.

jak

Reply to
jakdedert

We use about 30 of the 13w spirals for outside lighting in our homeowners association. We previously used 150w HP sodium vapor but these were too bright and too wasteful in terms of energy....however, we only had to replace these every 5 years.

I was warned about LOA but ignored it. They had a high infant mortality rate and did not last very long but they did save a lot on energy. Now, we just use whatever Costco has (currently Feit.) Sure they do not last

5 years, but when our electric company (PGE) has instant rebates, I can buy 8 bulbs for only $2. So I just end up replacing the bulbs more often, but we save a lot on energy.

I am anxiously awaiting a 60w incandescent equivalent version of a LED bulb with a 20000 hour life.

Reply to
Caesar Valenti

Hi...

Can't resist asking. Given that you use them outdoors, what's your coldest winter temperature in them thar parts? And have they ever failed to light solely due to low temps?

Thanks, and take care.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Weitzel

" I am anxiously awaiting a 60w incandescent equivalent version of a LED bulb with a 20000 hour life"

I have ruined enough light bulbs this year by sudden jolts that led would save me money in that area alone. I have replace some of them with spiral florescent because of subsidized low price. I found that they are a lot more durable on impact ( unless directed at the glass bulb itself). If fact with a home made collar (like a dog collar a vet gives so it can,t lick the wounds or such) that keeps the florescent bulb snug in the fixture (heavier bullb bends socket and contacts glass) can be dropped at least 4 feet and still work. Regular light bulbs burn out (look at any hollywood movie that shows lamps knocked over and etc.). Now I would think a led (60watt) replacement in a secure fixture could survive anything if the fixture is strong enough. I have yet to kill a led bulb other than damaging the power source and fixture itself.

Reply to
NN

Just make sure you recycle the lamps, at least in my area it's now illegal to throw mercury containing lamps in the garbage (which includes fluorescent, HPS, metal halide, and mercury vapor lamps.)

You're right about the savings though, I replaced some 50W HPS wall packs at my mom's house with 23W daylight CFLs, less than half the power and with the grass and trees it actually looks *brighter* back there despite much lower brightness on paper. Amazing the difference white light makes.

It will be nice if LEDs improve substantially to the point where this is practical. Right now they're great for producing light of a specific color, rather than taking an inneficient incandescent source and throwing away 90% of the light with a filter, you can create the color you want directly. For producing white light though they're not very efficient at all, only slightly better than incandescent at far higher cost and the color rendering is poor.

Reply to
James Sweet

I use quite a few CFLs outdoors as well, the coldest it's gotten down to here in recent memory was about 25F, the lamps were very dim when first turned on and took a few minutes to fully warm up, but in dusk till dawn use they're fine. If the fixture is not enclosed though you should get the encapsulated CFLs, the bare tubes can have trouble reaching full brightness.

Reply to
James Sweet

I use the CF units from Costco also. I haven't known them to fail to light or stay lit; I think 13 F was about the coldest at the time I lit them and probably 4 F the coldest they stayed on when lit earlier.

--
        If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
           my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.
Reply to
clifto

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