CFLs

[TromboneAl]

wired in series

But they'd all go out when you removed one, of course. I can't believe that anyone over the age of 10 would wire it that way.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Nah, they're not like christmas lights. The sockets hot even when the bulb is out of it.

We did this stuff in high school, wiring bulbs in series and in parallel using switches on a big piece of wood.

I'm betting they dont teach it that way anymore

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Like this...

 

[Nords]

Like this...

"Here, Bubba, hold this in one hand and my beer in the other while I flip this switch..."

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, we all learned a healthy respect for 110v alternating current.

 

[Grizz]

Dammit, when I read the title of this thread I thought we'd be talking Canadian Football League.

 

[kaneohe]

Bright initial turnon of CFLs

We recently had kitchen remodeled. New fixtures installed with 23w CFLs. Sometimes when they are turned on (3 wired per switch), one of them has an initial transient that is very bright which lasts for a second or so and then the brightness is the same as the others (dimmer than steady state but increasing over time to the steady state brightness). It does not always happen but it happens enough that I am not surprised when it happens.

Anybody else have this experience? Wondering what causes it, is it a problem, fix = ??

The bulbs do not have the screw in base like incandescents. They have 4 pins
at the base and I think you push them in to install. I think they also have
electronic ballasts that (I think) are part of the fixture.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Dammit, when I read the title of this thread I thought we'd be talking Canadian Football League.

I almost made a joke about that.

 

[UncleHoney]

We recently had kitchen remodeled. New fixtures installed with 23w CFLs. Sometimes when they are turned on (3 wired per switch), one of them has an initial transient that is very bright which lasts for a second or so and then the brightness is the same as the others (dimmer than steady state but increasing over time to the steady state brightness). It does not always happen but it happens enough that I am not surprised when it happens.

Anybody else have this experience? Wondering what causes it, is it a problem, fix = ??

The bulbs do not have the screw in base like incandescents. They have 4 pins
at the base and I think you push them in to install. I think they also have
electronic ballasts that (I think) are part of the fixture.

Most likely your fixtures have an electronic ballast and the ballast stays with the fixture and only the lamp gets replaced. With the screw in bulbs both ballast and bulb are all one assembly.

When you first turn on any fluorescent lamp the ballast turns on small filaments in the lamp and sends a spike of high voltage to the lamp to get it started and then the filaments turn off and the operating voltage drops down to a lower level. The ballast in the suspect fixture may be staying in the starting mode just a little longer than the others or that lamp may just start easier than the rest.

You could switch the lamps around and see if the problem stays with the fixture or moves with the lamp.

I'm not sure it's a problem or not but long term bulb life may be an issue.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, you've got a problem in the fixture with the starter/ballast and a bulb in that fixture probably wont last as long. Some starters are faster than others...maybe someone replaced just one of them with a faster part than is starting the other bulbs.

 

[mathjak107]

most compact lamps are not energy star rated. they are very brand and model specific.