..... Phil
Has anyone here tried retrofitting low ESR capacitors to CFLs with a view to improving their turn-on performance - i.e. so that they reach full brightness quickly?
Sylvia.
If you're referring to the inverter supply? I think those caps are already of low ESR types. If not, they should be.
Jamie
**The full brightness thing is not associated with the electronics. It's an issue with the gas in the tube and, to a lesser extent, the phosphor coating. You can prove this for yourself, by measuring the light output of a standard (iron ballast) fluoro. Light output gradually increases over a few seconds (or minutes, depending on ambient temperature).
Don't sweat it anyway, LEDs will replace them in most applications very soon. I've been mucking about with a couple of these recently:
It delivers almost double the light output of an 11 Watt T5 fluoro and is far more compact, dimmable and has nicer colour temperature.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
"Jamie" = Maynard A. Philbrook, radio ham KA1LPH and total f****it
** Wot absurd craplogy..... Phil
"Stupider than Anyone Else on Earth "
** There are no fairies left at the bottom of this mad bitch's garden.They all vacated decades ago in acute embarrassment.
.... Phil
"larry moe 'n curly"
Another problem is opening up the CFL to get to the circuit board and reattaching the cover because regular glues don't work, and you want a strong bond that won't fail at high temperature.
** Most CFLs use no glue at all, the halves snap fit together.Silicone adhesive ( eg Silastic) will handle the case temp easily - can be used to secure loose glass tubes in the case too.
.... Phil
Having got used to the higher colour temperatures of CFLs, I find that I prefer them.
Incandescents weren't given a lower colour temperature because people preferred them, it was just the way they came out. If the first practical domestic electric lights had been of daylight colour temperature, I imagine that's what everyone would always have wanted, and people would have given short shrift to this yellow rubbish.
However, I note that the led emitter strips are available in higher colour temperatures.
Sylvia.
Can those who have opened them up tell us how best to do it and what usually dies? I am amassing a collection of duds that didn't reach anywhere near their promised lifetime (especially the more expensive higher wattage ones) and I'm idly curious as to what use could be made of them. From Larry's photo, there's quite a bit of electronics in there, (which incidentally makes one wonder whether their lifetime energy saving is really as high as is claimed, but that's another matter).
Chris
What ever you think of the question (stupid, incomplete, a waste of time etc), she did NOT ask you. A question is not an excuse for you to insult anyone. If you don't like it don't answer
I also favor the light temperature of the daylight or sunlight CF lamps, which are typically over 6000K. My eyes adapt to the light very well, although I rarely use direct lighting.. most of my CFLs are pointed upward for bounce lighting.
The majority of incandescents give off a red light, and I've read that up to
90% of the output from incancescent lights is in the infrared region. For folks that experience cold weather for half of the year, the infrared adds to their comfort. This is easily seen when using film photography as the color levels aren't natural, but shifted so far that a blue filter is needed to achieve natural colors.Only the very early versions of CFLs I purchased were slow to reach full output.. maybe I've just been lucky, but the ones I use every day come on quickly.
I strongly suspect that widespread use of LED lighting will have a much more severe impact on the environment that using incandescents. The environutz are easily mislead.
I believe that the manufacture of LED lighting will use more energy and create more pollutants than glass lamps ever did. The plastics and various compounds used for component manufacturing will result in more irreversible air and water contamination. The extra slap in the face comes with the excessive plastic packaging the CFLs are usually sold in.. when old glass lamps were generally packaged in easily recycled paper products (even as litter, the paper breaks down to something useful). In addition to increased energy usage, the waste issue of CFLs and LED lights presents more pollutants than a simple glass lamp ever did.
The LED lamps aren't going to last for an average of 10 years, not when they'll be manufactured in China/India/etc by the lowest bidder, and using lead-free solder and the cheapest components available. The marketing hype and lip service are BS, as they generally always are.
The data is generally never presented in real-world terms, and there won't be any significant data presented, such as the conversion of Las Vegas to LED lighting.
The LED lamps that I've seen at stores won't fit in most common existing lighting fixtures, and have a price of $30-40US. This will be a huge unnecessary expense to an average homeowner due to a ban on incandescents.
-- Cheers, WB ............. "Sylvia Else" wrote in message news:9drjkhF3v3U1@mid.individual.net... > > Having got used to the higher colour temperatures of CFLs, I find that I > prefer them. > > Incandescents weren't given a lower colour temperature because people > preferred them, it was just the way they came out. If the first practical > domestic electric lights had been of daylight colour temperature, I > imagine that's what everyone would always have wanted, and people would > have given short shrift to this yellow rubbish. > > However, I note that the led emitter strips are available in higher colour > temperatures. > > Sylvia. > >
The only ones I've tried opening are old large MaxLite (in the photo) and 5-year-old 14W Commercial Electric (now Home Depot's brand), and both were glued. I opened them by carefully sawing around the perimeter. I ended up using a fine-tooth coping saw because my Dremel abrasive cutoff wheel gummed up with plastic. If the CFLs are snapped together, how do we unsnap them?
I know silicone rubber glue can take the heat, but is it strong enough? I worry about it coming loose when somebody screws in the bulb, causing the bulb wires (magnet wire - only enamel insulation) to short.
So why do some CFLs keep the brightness more constant than others?
Aren't LEDs also temperature sensitive? Because I had a hot chassis TV with optical couplers for the composite video and audio, and the picture brightness & contrast would change slightly when it warmed up. There were also pots to adjust the couplers.
**95% ~ 98% is far closer to reality. Halogens are somewhat more efficient.
For folks that experience cold weather for half of
**So do heat pumps, which are vastly more efficient. **As are you. Provide your proof that LED lighting will have a much more severe impact on the environment. **You "believe" it, do you? Got some proof? In your proof, you may consider the following:The plastics
**Really? Are you trying to suggest that it is impossible to deal with the pollution caused by the manufacture of semiconductors? Curious. **Huh? You talking about CFLs or LEDs? Either way, the last CFLs and LED downlights I purchased were packed in recycled cardboard. No plastic in sight.. when old glass lamps were generally
**Curiously enough, the last incandescent I purchased (a halogen) was packed in a cardboard/plastic material. Far less enviroinmentally sensitive than the LEDs and CFLs I bought. **Really? What are the waste products you speak of? Have you factored in the extremely long life of CFLs and LEDs? (I have 19 CFLs in my home, 1 incandescent and a dozen halogens). In six years, I've replaced the incandescent 2 times (VERY rarely used). I've replaced 10 halogens (rarely used) and, except for two dropped CFLs, none have been replaced, despite being used for upwards of 6 hours per day. **I'm still using some first generation white LEDs. They're left on 24/7 and have been for more than 10 years. The latest ones are brighter and should last much longer.not
**YOU have no clue. None whatsoever.**More bollocks. LED lighting is rapidly falling in cost. VERY rapidly indeed. CFLs were expensive a few years back and now they cost barely more than incandescents. They last many times longer and use far less energy.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
**I can't answer that question. All the ones I use are fine. **In the same sense that all semiconductors are, yes. Any decent LED lighting manufacturer will take care of cooling.
-- Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
They will happily run a normal (straight or circular) fluro without any electrical problems, and would save power compared to an ironcore ballast.
If you were going to do this and fit them in a standard batten, I would replace the electrolytics with a decent name brand first as the cheap caps are unlikely to last the many, many years that a typical household batten does..
It would be a huge hassle to get the case apart, and back together again, and I can't see it making any difference whatsoever.
All the CFL's I have here that have failed, it is always the tube that is the cause. The electronics - including the filter capacitor are always fine, so there isnt any point in replacing it even for longevity reasons.
"kreed"
It would be a huge hassle to get the case apart, and back together again,
** Pretty easy with most I have bought .All the CFL's I have here that have failed, it is always the tube that is the cause. The electronics - including the filter capacitor are always fine, so there isnt any point in replacing it even for longevity reasons.
** Generally, the electronics outlasts the tubes - but that is only because the tube fails so quickly, like a few hundred up to 2000 hours at most. I have a collection now of CFLs that are slow to come on, flicker or have lost 40% of their light output.The electronics will fail early if the CFL gets hot in use because it is inside a small light fitting - like an Oyster or spherical ceiling lamp.
.... Phil
Best use that could be made of them is to grind 'em up and use them for hardcore for road building ... :-)
Arfa
Maybe you know of a heat pump that will illuminate a house, and only cost the owner about $20 per year to purchase.
Production of plastics pollutes, so does gallium arsenide, and mercury in CFLs. Were you born yesterday?
Just because the pollution takes place somewhere else doesn't mean it doesn't effect all. Ubuntu.
Some say that only about 1% of the water on this planet is drinkable, although there's plenty that's contaminated with toxic chemicals and disease. Many people drink and bathe in poisonous, disease polluted water, but that shouldn't concern you.
Who is dying from silicon?
Dealing with pollution means having the nasty shit made somewhere else.. like a poor country.
Proof? Where's the proof that the incandescent light bulb you bought was packaged in plastic? For how long have incandescents been packaged in paper products.. well over
100 years. Those paper packages are broken down, but old plastics continue to pollute.You going to burn those scrap plastics to generate more power? How about in your town? Obviously you haven't seen any reports of huge artificial island-like masses in the oceans, made up of discarded plastic products/waste.
The "extremely" long life of CFLs and now LEDs is a projected number. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have yet to get over 2 years of life from those "5-7 year" CFLs I've been buying for over a decade.
Did you eat a lot of lead paint as a child? It was banned and lead paint was replaced it with a new latex paint.. which contained mercury.
You don't mention how many of those first-generation LEDs you're using, are the only lighting in a room. Maybe you're referring to night lights, like the ones that show where walls are when you're walking around in the dark. So how many of those buggers does it take to light a room? I mean bright enough so everything can be seen. At night, so you can see the pattern in the carpet, or read a book or find a pencil dropped under a table. Like I stated before.. the new LED lamps I've seen won't fit many existing light fixtures, so get ready to spend.
One way to insure that LED lighting won't be cheaper in the future is to ban other types of lighting.. apparently you delight in being gullible.
-- Cheers, WB .............
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