Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

[sam_sam_sam]

I have a Lithonia Lighting 65-Watt Gray Hardwired Compact Fluorescent

I also have back when Light of America had these light bulbs available for yard lights

The issue with Light of America was the blast boards had all most certain board failure while bulbs hardly ever fail

While the Lithonia lighting fixture has all most certain bulb failure

So I have modified the Lithonia lighting fixture to accept the Light of America light bulb and see how long this will last

I have only had this light fixture for not more than a year if it even that long and I have already had to replace the light bulb once this does not count the light bulb that came with it

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

I am not sure exactly what falls with these light bulbs but they just do not light the ends of the tubes are not black so I do not know if the filament is burnt out because on the first one if I run my fingers from top of the tube to the bottom of the tube sometimes I could make it light again

These light bulbs have a capacitor between the two filament circuits and the two wires that are left go to ballast circuit board

[CapLeaker]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

On the CFL ballast board should be two transistors. Something like an mje13007. I am guessing they are shorted plus maybe a fuse open. I used to repair the old cfl’s at one point, because I had some old broken ones and it happened that on one rainy Sunday I needed 6. I took them all apart and separated the cfl from the board. Thing is you got to match the board with the cfl. Measure the heater with an ohm meter on the cfl on both sides. If a heater is open, the cfl is junk. Then proceed to the board and usually there are 2 transistors on there and a fuse. Check them, replace them if necessary, take a good used cfl and put it back together. I don’t do that anymore these as I switch over to LED.
Not sure how these things are built I guess I need to see one apart.

[stj]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

on cfl's with the film cap between the heaters, the 2 common failure points are the heaters and the mains smoothing electrolytic.
i have seen better designs with an ntc in series with the cap to drop the heater current after a few seconds.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

i have seen better designs with an ntc in series with the cap to drop the heater current after a few seconds.

What type of ntc would you use for this application

One thing that I noticed was that with the Light of America light bulbs that are a lot longer and the diameter is also bigger and it does take a little bit of time to get warm up to operating temperature compared to the original light bulb that is supposedly for this light fixture

[stj]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

not sure about the ntc, i dont know the heater current.


i do have this:

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

not sure about the ntc, i dont know the heater current.


i do have this:

You have an interesting collection of light bulbs

[stj]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

not mine, that pdf was on an eastern european site

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

not mine, that pdf was on an eastern european site

Who's ever collection it was it still interesting one

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

Well I can tell you that the heaters were open and it disintegrated the heater wire there is definitely an issue with the quality of these light bulbs

Because by now this light bulb would not be working properly by now the original bulb that the manufacturer calls for

By the way the 5 volts @ 500 milliamperes is when the heater starts glowing on the Light of America light bulbs I have not checked the Lithonia light bulbs because I do not have a good one right now but I might buy another one just to check if the heater specifically are different

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

I think I figured out what the issue with the bulb were I think that the manufacturer might have made a big mistake with what the wattage of the bulb are with the first one that I bought

I think that they were 42 watt bulbs not 65 watt bulbs because I found a 42 watt bulb that I have and it was the same length not the length of a 65 watt bulb

Because in the one I just bought has the right length bulb and works the way it should

So I am going to use the one that I modified for a lighting fixture that is also a Light of America that the blast had failed and they do not make this fixture anymore and I need for the lighting down the driveway

I will show some pictures of it when I finish this project

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

Here are some pictures of the new ballast board in old Light of America enclosure and light socket

This project has been completed and happy with the results

I decided not mess with the one that I had modified I going to leave it alone because it is working very good

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

Well it has ran for about a month now and so far no issues with it as far as I can tell with both fixtures but the one that I show the picture where I put the ballast board in the fixture it only gets used when I need extra lighting to see what I am doing outside

I am pleased with the results of this modification to this lighting fixture so hopefully it will keep working as it is now for many more hours of use

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Lithonia Lighting versus Light of America Compact Fluorescent product quality

Well it has ran for about a month now and so far no issues with it as far as I can tell with both fixtures but the one that I show the picture where I put the ballast board in the fixture it only gets used when I need extra lighting to see what I am doing outside

I am pleased with the results of this modification to this lighting fixture so hopefully it will keep working as it is now for many more hours of use

It has been running ever since I did this modification to this light fixture so the Lithonia CFL ballast board seems to be a better design than the Light of America CFL ballast board was but whoever made the CFL bulbs they are a good quality for the money I just wish they had made a better ballast board