A cheap CFL died at home...

[ethaniel]

... just opened it up, and found what you can see in the image below (sorry about quality, can't ask much more of a feature phone). Ymin? 400v? I think I understand why this costs 4 bucks...

[mariushm]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I don't understand, what's the problem?

It's not fake, it is 400v rated, it has to be because the cfl bulb may be sold in countries where there's 230-240v and then the voltage is rectified so the capacitor sees 240 x sqrt(2) = 240 x 1.41 = ~ 340v

The green capacitors you can see in front in the picture are the most often cause of failure, they see high voltage pulses until the lamp actually lights up.

[ethaniel]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

Besides having a 2-month life, no, no problem, but it looks cheap all right. Maybe I have too many chinese PSUs around me poisoning my mind...

[japlytic]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I've heard about free CFLs being handed out, and a number of them were of poor quality.
Should we start an Economic Justice petition directed at governments to require warranties (ideally not requiring proof of purchase) on energy saving lamps based on their lifetime claim?

[ethaniel]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

Actually, I bought that CFL on Wal-Mart, but a few years ago, the government did exactly what you're saying. It was some kind of "exchange", every person was able to trade up to four ILBs, for the same amount of CFLs. Some of my other CFLs lasted a long time, I guess it was a combination of bad luck and cheap design on this one. Now stores are trying to sell LED lights down here (70 bucks each, right), but a lot of people are buying halogen bulbs.

[mariushm]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I think a lot of these lamps are dying prematurely simply because people aren't taught how to use them.
As far as I gathered, the main causes for failures are the green capacitors which see 7-900v spikes during start and then a lower voltage for as long as the lamp runs. The transistors are also cheap, to get the whole lamp cheaply made, so they die less often.
Last, the high voltage capacitors dry out.

When my parents first bought one of these, it broke in a month. My parents were poor, and they lived in the communism era, so my father was in the habit to turn off the light even when he went out the room to talk to my mom in the kitchen for 3 minutes.

The salesman at the electronics store simply told him ... look man, your two old light bulbs were 60-100w each, this one is 12 watts. You won't save much by turning it off for five minutes, so once you turn it on at 20:00, don't turn it off until 23:00 or whenever you go to sleep.

The second bulb lasted for about 7 months until there was a power failure and some small spike when power came back.

Oh.. and a big problem is using them in fixtures that are tough with the air flow.. they live longer if they're facing downwards than being in a sort of glass cup or something like that, which doesn't allow air to go in from below and raise up.

[seanc]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I have one in my hallway that is failing.
Every so often after about 30 minutes of being on it will flicker, 2 minutes later it will turn off. It will power right back up when it cools down and keep repeating the procedure over and over again.

In another house I lived in, the spotlight bulbs in the kitchen used to fail because of capacitors - I could see them bulging.

[ethaniel]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

Here is another one, failed this morning (they do go down in pairs). Difference is, this one is almost a year old and was barely turned off, so, I guess it's exactly what mariushm says.

[eccerr0r]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

Been looking at failed CFL's, I end up seeing a lot of burnt transistors. I think a lot of CFLs weren't built with actual bulb failures, and when the bulb loses its seal or a wire breaks, the transistors self-immolate, taking everything down with them...

[thamesJackson]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

When We Buy CFL We Just Go For The Guranted CFL .Mant CFL Manufacturing Company Gives One Year Replacement Guranty And Never Buy Cheap CFL.

[kc8adu]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

had one go at a neighbors place last night.
it was about 15f in his garage and we went out to blow out a pc.
cfl was rather dim as expected.we started the compressor(big 220v unit) and about the time we were getting decent light the cfl popped loudly and held a buzzing arc about 15 seconds before the breaker tripped.condensation?
or just random failure.
it was a ge from sams club.i was going to autopsy it but ge wants it sent to them.these should have a fuse resistor that will open rather than support such an arc as to trip a standard(not afci)breaker.
they must want to inspect it too.last time a fairly new ge died they mailed me a coupon for $10

[delaware74b]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

kc8adu - GE. That explains the failure. I have seen more early failures out of the GE's than many other brands. I will buy the Blowes in-house brand or the Feit's at Home Despot before I buy any of GE brand or the Sylvania "instant on" CFL.

The Sylvania's come on with a big flash, then go almost completely out, then start warming up. It takes 5 minutes for them to fully warm up!

I am leaning to checking out the TCP brand. I installed a set of special 277volt, 42 watt 4100K (Cool white deluxe) in two outdoor pylon signs. Used them after deleting a ballast for some high $$$ HO u-bents that were $75 per lamp. Each pylon used 3 of those u-bent lamps and kept destroying the sockets.The TCP's were about $22 each plus some medium base sockets and my time to rebuild the fixtures. I did this 3 years ago and they are still going strong.

I was looking at the program-start ones TCP is making but at $7 per lamp makes me wonder if they are worth 2x the cost. I had a CFL from Lowes fail over the weekend and autopsied it. Filament failure but it didn't smoke any of the electronics. I was surprised because the last one that failed let out all the factory-installed smoke. I caught it as it failed....

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

kc8adu - GE. That explains the failure. I have seen more early failures out of the GE's than many other brands. I will buy the Blowes in-house brand or the Feit's at Home Despot before I buy any of GE brand or the Sylvania "instant on" CFL.

The Sylvania's come on with a big flash, then go almost completely out, then start warming up. It takes 5 minutes for them to fully warm up!

I am leaning to checking out the TCP brand. I installed a set of special 277volt, 42 watt 4100K (Cool white deluxe) in two outdoor pylon signs. Used them after deleting a ballast for some high $$$ HO u-bents that were $75 per lamp. Each pylon used 3 of those u-bent lamps and kept destroying the sockets.The TCP's were about $22 each plus some medium base sockets and my time to rebuild the fixtures. I did this 3 years ago and they are still going strong.

I was looking at the program-start ones TCP is making but at $7 per lamp makes me wonder if they are worth 2x the cost. I had a CFL from Lowes fail over the weekend and autopsied it. Filament failure but it didn't smoke any of the electronics. I was surprised because the last one that failed let out all the factory-installed smoke. I caught it as it failed....

Vice-versa here. I had the worst luck with Feit brand CFLs. In late December, 2010, after I turned one on, it died in just about 5 seconds! (After just taking it out of the package!)

It got dimmer and stopped lighting.

And the TCPs take a while for full brightness, like metal halide, lol. (TCP CFLs I got in late December, 2010)

[japlytic]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

When We Buy CFL We Just Go For The Guranted CFL .Mant CFL Manufacturing Company Gives One Year Replacement Guranty And Never Buy Cheap CFL.

Does this mean the UK requires warranties on energy saving lamps?

[delaware74b]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I had another one fail earlier this week. They must fail in pairs although in different fixtures on different circuits. Lowe's old in-house brand 'Bright Effects' 23 watt 3500K in bathroom light fixture.

Wife said it was getting bright then dim the night before while she was in the shower. The next morning it quit completely. As soon as I opened the fixture I know what failed. Burnt electronics smell.

I changed it out and autopsied the failed lamp: looks like the 10pF HV cap failed and cascaded the entire filament driver circuit on 1/2 of the CFL. This lamp was installed horizontally and the entire solder side of the board was cooked.

The program-start CFL's by TCP are spec'd to start at 75% brightness on initial start and the remaining 25% within a minute. I have noticed the newer Feit/Lowe's CFL's don't start like the older ones. They are slower to warm up, probably due to a reduction in the amount of mercury and higher argon gas charge. I also see the same thing in the 4-foot T-8 lamps.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

The program-start CFL's by TCP are spec'd to start at 75% brightness on initial start and the remaining 25% within a minute.

Looks like BS! The TCP ones I have are known to only start at about 15 %!

Look here:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/LBDRAi_...VJXVHf-diLy0yw

Jump to 4:02 to see me turn on the TCP CFL.

[lti]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I haven't had any problems with Feit CFLs. I have two in my garage. They light up pink when it is really cold (like today), but they only take a couple minutes to warm up when it is that cold.

Meanwhile, the old Commercial Electric CFL in my bedroom is finally dying. I can hear it buzzing and whining.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

I haven't had any problems with Feit CFLs. I have two in my garage. They light up pink when it is really cold (like today), but they only take a couple minutes to warm up when it is that cold.

Meanwhile, the old Commercial Electric CFL in my bedroom is finally dying. I can hear it buzzing and whining.

Pink/purple when starting, reminds me of mercury vapor lamps. (purplish-white at full brightness on a lot of later ones)
(It looks like you can still get ones that are bluish at full brightness.)
Which were used to replace metal halide in the Crotched Mountain gym in 1997.

Metal halide is vice-versa, often bluish at startup and then pink.

Metal halide seems to vary by manufacturer, some are orange and look dark orange at startup.

[ben7]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

Meanwhile, the old Commercial Electric CFL in my bedroom is finally dying. I can hear it buzzing and whining.

Sounds like a future autopsy!

[delaware74b]

Re: A cheap CFL died at home...

RJARRRPCGP - Here is the link to the program-start CFL's made by TCP I was considering to purchase. I am looking at the 3500K instead of the 2700K but they have the same specs and expected life span. They are also enclosed-fixture rated and damp location rated.

http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/63108/TCP-58023.html