Dimmable CFL's

Andy Burns formulated on Sunday :

Now confued - So, do these dimmable CFL's not work with a normal dimmer?

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield
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confued = confused

Well I said I was :-))

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

I wonder if anyone might have any experience of using BC dimable CFL lamps?

Interested in working life and how well the dimming works?

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

I've been using dimmable bayonets for over a year. Good light colour and excellent dimming down to very low. I believe that there is proportional energy saving as you dim, unlike filaments that save little. Sometimes the lamps won't switch on a low level. You have to raise it to start. I have four 20W cfls on one dimmer. Dimmers don't work if you don't give them their minimum load (usually 40W) so you can't dim just one, or perhaps even two, lamps. The leccy suppliers now sell low load dimmers for cfls, so you might need to change.

Can't comment on long-term life for obvious reasons. A room with eight

40W filaments is now lit by the four 20W cfls, which saves me at least £50 a year at 6 hours average a day. More if you account for the more efficient dimming. Well worth it, I reckon

Peter Scott

Reply to
Peter Scott

I purchased two of them (DigiFlux 20watt spiral with integral dimmer operated by a normal on/off switch)

Warmup time is not especially fast, but in a bedroom I quite like that for lack of shock to the eyeballs, also operating the dimmer from the pull-switch is convenient.

One of them was quite noisy while above half brightness, it died quite quickly. The remaining one does hum a little when at full brightness, but then my ears are NOT shot and I'm usually the person who says "can you hear that?" at any tiny noise, so perhaps the noise might not be an issue to most people.

The other is still going (but once in a blue moon the dimmer seems to get stuck in a state where it will turn off immediately and needs a sequence of off/on/off/on/off/on to get it going again.

The colour changes from pinkish to yellowish with the brightness

Even though I'm one of the people who doesn't object to CFLs in general, I've not been especially impressed and probably won't replace the remaining one when it dies, perhaps a suitable dimmable LED will exist at reasonable price by then.

Marks? only 5/10 from me ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

I find the problem with dimmers is that the dimmer does not last very long, rather than the lamps. I like the pushbutton knobs and brass surrounds though, so when the power transistor (or whatever it is) inevitably blows, I bypass it and just use it as an on off switch.

S
Reply to
Spamlet

Probably not the case here, but perhaps the dimmer was not fully loaded. Please see my earlier post. I know someone whose lamps failed quickly and took the dimmer with them because of this problem. The noise might suggest this was the problem here.

Peter Scott

Reply to
Peter Scott

That shouldn't have been the case because these lamps have an internal dimmer, and operate from any light switch. You quickly turn them on/off/on and they go into a cycle of dimming from min to max an back again, then they reach the required level, you switch them off/on and they retain that level.

The one that died early buzzed noticeably when above 50% brightness, the remaining one buzzes quietly when it's above maybe 80%.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Just checked the Varilight website, when I purchased them the only thing they sold was the dimming CFLs, now they seem to sell all manner of switches, sockets and electrical accessories, with dimmable CFLs almost being an afterthought, the last product on their list.

Reply to
Andy Burns

I haven't tried those. I thought the switching sounded fiddly. I guess you find it OK. Just one thought. I live in the country and the supply voltage tends to be high as read by my UPSs. Could your problems be due to high or low voltage? Filament bulbs used to burn out quite quickly.

Peter Scott

Reply to
Peter Scott

It's OK so long as you don't want to change brightness very often.

Yes, my UPSes both show averages of 250V over the course of a day, they're set to trim above 253V and generally cut in at least once a day.

Reply to
Andy Burns

There are a group that work with a dimmer and another group that do not

- relying on funky switching sequences to communicate intent to the internal dimmer circuitry.

I've had a few of the latter group and apart from being a bit odd, they do work very well - in fact 2 on a circuit did quite well at stay synchronised.

Really it is time to consider a new light fitting standard, with L,N and Control and let the manufacturers install control circuitry in the lamp that best suits the lamp.

Reply to
Tim Watts

As we're talking about new light fittings for CFLs, there's one trap I fell into. I bought some with the square pin bases (don't what they are called). I discovered too late that different wattage ratings have different bases so you can't fit a higher or lower wattage later. These weren't dimmable of course so now I'm stuck with the brightness.

Anyway the dimmables I use are the ones that use normal dimmers and I've found them very good. I agree with the idea of three wire control using a dimmer wire but it would need rewires of course.

Peter Scott

Reply to
Peter Scott

You can get ones that work with a normal dimmer (but as Peter says you must provide sufficient minimum load to the dimmer) or ones with an internal dimmer that just operate from a switch.

Reply to
Andy Burns

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