I have a Luxo asymmetrical task light which takes an 18 watt bulb, which is starting to give me trouble. Most of the time it will just flicker as if it is trying to come on, but sometimes it will flicker once or twice and then come right on. When it does come on it shines bright. Luxo will not support this task light anymore because they say it is too old??? even though it was supposedly guaranteed for life. What is causing this intermittant problem and how could I fix it? I hate to throw the light out because it was around $200 when I bought it and it does work fine after it lights up.
You thought that was YOUR life time? What does the bulb itself look like? Was it a custom item for Luxo or is it available elsewhere? Is it a CCFL? Is there a link to where we can see it?
So the bulb is an 18W Sylvania Dulux D compact flouresecent 20677 835 but when I go on sylvania.com to look at the specs the website is off limits???? Even though this website is on the bulb box????? I'm trying to figure out if this bulb has an EOL end of life protection mode which is what the ballast manuf. recommends to protect the ballast.
This does remind me of a recent story in Usenet where someone was trying to fix a some-somewhat-similar lighting unit having an 18 watt compact fluorescent bulb, and achieved the fix by replacing the "starter" with the guts of a FS-4 "fluorescent lamp starter", despite the wattage and the voltage drop of the "starterless ballast-less CFL" that I am most familiar with being more suitable for using the guts of a FS-2 "starter".
One thing that everybody should keep in mind for fluorescent fixtures that need "starters" that are separate from ballasts: Bad "bulbs"/"lamps" are hard on starters, and bad starters are hard on "bulbs/lamps/tubes". This probably explains sonmewhat-common advice to replace the starter when replacing the "bulb".
"Instant Start" makes me think of 1 of 2 related technologies where the ballast does the starting without the "starter" that I mentioned previously.
I would best-guess that the "bulb" (lamp) is bad, or the ballast is bad, or either maybe both of those were sourced profitably from low-bid suppliers that I suspect could be in or near southeast Asia.
In such a case, I am starting to get into a better mood to "cut the losses", as in either replacing the lighting unit or hacking into it both a better ballast and a better "bulb"/lamp, even if that requires hacking in a socket from some other cheap fixture or from one in a dumpster on the curbside for trash pickup.
Not that I made actual effort to research this, but I wonder if "Dulux D" was some "mere fad" or similar to GE's "2D".
Another thing to consider - Sylvania is now part of Osram. Should what you need be more of a European item, I give some chance that bulbs.com can get you such a thing, especially if Philips offers such a thing, even if only into the "European Market". Maybe do their "Ask Dr. Bulb" thing, that may work, since I was a former "Dr. Bulb" at bulbs.com. (I might get into a mood to do so again soon, in times when more people need to "scare up work".)
But besides that, one bit of advice that I often offered back when I was "a Dr. Bulb" at bulbs.com, and which I stand by even now, is to:
When purchasing lighting units, consider and make-the-motions for getting replacement "bulbs" (lamps). One would probably prefer to purchase lighting units that can be "relamped" (have the "bulb" replaced) by something of an "industry standard type" available from at least 2 of the "Big 3" (Philips, Osram/Sylvania, and GE).
(As for how a "bulb" becomes a "lamp": Generally in North America to "technical types" outside the automotive industry, "the bulb is the glass part of the lamp". And the lamp is what gets inserted/screwed into a socket / "lampholder" or light-fixture, better known to "lighting engineers" at least in North America and at least in optical sense as a "luminaire".)
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