Roger (K8RI) wrote:
> Like all fluorescents, the ON/off cycles are important. The old , turn
> 'em off when you leave the room that applied to incandescent bulbs does
> not apply to CFLs as it will result in premature failure. Turn 'em off
> if you plan on being out of the room for a half hour of more...orther
> wise leave them on.
That's what I used to believe. But many reports in the last several
years say that it hasn't been true for a long time. (I think
Mythbusters covered that too.) Turn them off even if it's only for a
few minutes.
(Heck, incandescents are stressed at turn-on. Ever see that
super-slow speed film of an incandescent filament when it powers up?
It's no wonder they tend to "pop" when you throw the switch on.)
Now there are some CFLs that apply far greater stress at start-up in
order to achieve instant-start with full brightness, and with those
there are concerns about on/off cycles. I have one that was said to
be like that in my front hall, so you could say I've got an experiment
in progress.
> We use almost all CFLs and have never had a problem with them
I have about a 50/50 mix here. CLFs in most of the living spaces,
incandescents still in place where we rarely go and in some
specialized fixtures.
They give me no noticeable RFI problem. Not to say that they are free
of noise, but they are certainly no greater than the HF noise level
from everything else in the neighborhood. (Well, OK, one exception: a
floor-standing non-compact fluorescent with electronic ballast.)
Until the last 12 months, I'd say our CFLs never gave us any real
problems. But recently some of them have. We finally had a few
failures in the last year. They just stopped making light. No fires,
no smoke, no sizzling.
Even more puzzling, I have some new, unused CFLs that don't work! Now
these were tried base-up (which could be a problem), but other CFLs
bought at the same time (same brand, same models) and installed
base-up when they were new, worked and still work just fine!
Do they age, sitting on the shelf? Do they go bad, unused?
And what's the real deal about orientation, anyway? I have one CFL
whose packaging says its preferred orientation is base-UP! Whereas I
had always heard it was the opposite.
Except for our first two CFLs bought several years ago, all the others
have been name-brand from traditional "American" bulb manufacturers.
Not that this means anything anymore since they are all imported from
China, but maybe Sylvania's quality control is better than some
unknown company out to make a buck.
> Just do a search on "CFL reflectors and news groups". Lots of
> information comes up
Thanks, I'll try that. I already had tried Yahoogroups, but most of
the CFLs there were about the Canadian Football League.
Andy
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