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Posted by Don Klipstein on April 27, 2008, 2:47 pm
>Don Klipstein wrote:
>>
>>>Came across a 23W dimmable CFL. Got one to try it out.
>>>It worked ~2 hours and pop, it went to full brightness and
>>>no more dimmable??!! Are they this unreliable? Or I got bad one.
>>
>> Please tell us the details!
>>
>> The usual "dimmable CFL" to most looking for those means one that is
>> safely usable with a "usual light dimmer". I find it hard to believe a
>> lamp refusing completely to be dimmed by a usual-for-incandescent-type
>> dimmer. Non-dimmable lamps tend to have short life expectancy when used
>> with a dimmer against their instructions, and may blow the dimmer.
>> Usually the lamp is what dies.
>>
>> - Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)
>Hi,
>Packaging clearly said it is dimmable. I screwed it in side by side with
>60W incdescent lamp, dimmed up and down a few times and noticed when
>dimmed too low it was scintillating. At certain point it quit doing that
>where I left it. Soon it went to full brightness while the other lamp
>was still dimmed. From then on it is no more dimming, just stay at full
>bightness.
I suspect the ballast circuitry in the CFL had part of it fail, and the
CFL converted itself into a conventional CFL. Those can have hardly any
dimming and can appear to be at full brightness until the dimmer is dimmed
past the point at which an incandescent has about 1/4 its normal
brightness. They can also be hard on the dimmer.
CFLs also often dim more slowly than incandescents do at first, being
about half brightness (or more) at a point at which an incandescent is
about 1/4 brightness. A CFL may start dimming more rapidly when dimmed
almost to being off, or may just suddenly turn off.
Special dimming ballasts for ballastless CFLs do better.
- Don Klipstein (don@misty.com)
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