Cfl Stopped Working Started Again After a Year
Troubleshooting Your Calorie-free Bulbs
Fluorescents, CFLs & LEDs – Oh My! (Part two)
In that location is a rising tide of customers calling the states with problems or concerns over light fixtures that seem to be behaving oddly. Frequently, this isn't the fault of the fixture – but of the bulb or its support materials (such as a anchor, driver, or electronic scrap fix). The engineering in light bulbs is improving, giving united states of america improve efficiency, healthier light, and happier indoor spaces. Still, the fail points of these new fangled lights is besides increasing – since a lightbulb is no longer as elementary as it in one case was.
Office of the reason it is habit for us to troubleshoot a fixture rather than a bulb was because our lighting systems have been relatively uncomplicated – and if yous had a bulb that didn't piece of work, you tightened it upwards in the lamp. If that didn't work, then you would try replacing it. Later that, all bug existed downstream – aka, in the fixture, the excursion, or the switch – because the bulb was as well simple to have many parts capable of failing, and simple replacement resolved something like 95% of your problems. This isn't true with modern lighting – equally a affair of fact, fluorescents, CFLs, and LEDs have so many circuits and pieces that failures are by and large expected as a normal role of the fabrication, implementation, and apply procedure.
Please NOTE – Always disconnect any bachelor plugs, power supplies, circuits, and switches earlier touching a light bulb and/or fixture. Alive electrical work should never be done past anyone.
(Unless you take specialized training*.)
If ever you are in doubt about a calorie-free's functionality, but plug it into a working fixture, outlet, or excursion to see if you can repeat your previous issues.
Final week we discussed troubleshooting full fluorescent tubes – this calendar week, we explore CFL calorie-free bulbs.
Ah, the lofty CFL – touted every bit the 'revolutionary bulb' that inverse how Americans expect at light. Several years ago, the CFL introduction into casual residential usage started a wildfire amongst homeowners – and spawned a thousand new conspiracy theories, equally well as inspiring some pretty impressive legislature. Thank you to the appearance of affordable, efficient light bulbs, incandescent manufacturers had to step upwardly their efficiency and propel themselves into the 21st century. A welcome change, since the 2010 incandescent bulb was using a filament designed in 1910, and a technology 'perfected' in 1964. The first mass produced CFLs were unreliable at best – created in huge batches at high speed, with inconsistent conditions – and behaved poorly in residential applications (which is why they suffered years of criticism). Strange manufacturing also meant quality control was practically not-existent, simply time and repeated technology improvements helped performance, reliability, and costs become more reasonable.
Troubleshooting a CFL
One of the almost important things to call back about CFLs is that they are C ompact F luorescent L amps (or Lights, or Calorie-free Bulbs, or however your heed remembers the acronym). This means that even though the bulb is tiny and corkscrew shaped, it is fundamentally based on the same principles every bit your common overhead tube fluorescent. Nosotros accept simply made it much harder and more than complicated by shoving all the controls, ballasts, and functioning hardware into an itty fragmentary plastic base (run into picture in a higher place). Keeping in mind that the plastic bases are resilient and the drinking glass cork screws are fragile, e'er try to use the bases when handling these bulbs to forbid injury and protect the glass portion of the bulb. None of us want to deal with that dreaded 'mercury spill' per EPA 'suggestions'.
Troubleshooting CFLs can be trickier considering of their unique size and behavior – but don't let it discourage you. Only like regular fluorescents, you can visually verify defects by running through the same checklist before giving up the ghost on a seedling. Try examining the bulb itself and asking yourself the following questions:
- Is the low-cal a normal color?
- Is the light information technology's normal brightness?
- Are both sides of the spiral fully lit?
- Does either side of the spiral seem dim or hesitant?
- Does the bulb flicker, flare, or flash in whatever way?
- Is one side of the bulb is dim or dark but the other is lit normally, or flickering very apace?
- Does the seedling slowly seem to 'warm upwardly', stay lit for a piffling while, and so abruptly cut out?
- Is the bulb in a cold (beneath freezing) environment? (If the answer to this one is yes, and so your best bet is to supplant the bulb and/or fixture with something cold-appropriate.)
In addition, e'er try tightening/reseating it in a fixture, or testing it in a different lamp or low-cal. Since CFLs are very detail, they may or may not demand to exist a special type to be used: on a dimmer, in a three way switch (the lamp kind, not the wall kind), on a circuit with lighted switches, in conjunction with photocells, in a clammy environs, fifty-fifty right side upward or upside down, etc. CFLs besides do not enjoy beingness turned on-off-on-off repeatedly; they perform best in environments where they are on for extended periods of time. This means they perform worst in fixtures with occupancy or movement sensors and bathrooms (where we are unremarkably present for less than three minutes.)It is near particularly of import that when purchasing, y'all choice out the CFL bulb specifically situated to your needs. Never, ever consider using CFLs in a circumstance they aren't rated for – such every bit in an oven, mounting them upside downwards, or extreme temperatures (hot or common cold). The gas inside the bulb doesn't stand upwards well to abuse, and failure to use one correctly could yield results like these:
Since CFLs are inclusive bulbs – tiny fluorescent tubes plugged into their ain ballasts and starters – if one of those interior parts go bad, and then it's fourth dimension to kibosh the whole seedling. The difficult part is separating bulb faults from others; the easy respond is of course to just replace them – just what if you supervene upon 10 bulbs in a month, is that excessive? Or how near fifty bulbs a year? Is that too many? If excessive replacement becomes an issue, consider calling out a licensed electrician to troubleshoot your circuits and wiring. If you find your CFLs aren't meeting your expectations as far as operation and lifespan, consider returning them to either the retailer or manufacturer for a refund.
*By specialized preparation, we hateful technical training, skilled certifications, or licenses related to electrical and/or electricity safety. Skilled and/or trained personnel volition probably never read this article, yet. 🙂
If all else fails and your lighting is not producing the desired results – whether it be CFL, LED, or high-efficiency incandescent – and so simply contact your retailer or manufacturer and arrange to render information technology. Light affects our infinite, all day, every mean solar day. It should be proficient lite that serves a function, performs well, and fifty-fifty brings the states visual pleasance. Anytime your lighting system isn't doing that, then call a licensed electrician like Swartz Electric, LLC to set that for you lot.
Join us next week as we troubleshoot LED bulbs!
Swartz Electric – Your Colorado Springs Electrician performs electrical work throughout Colorado Springs, Monument, Blackness Forest, Fountain, Falcon, Woodland Park, and everywhere in between. We are the electricians in Colorado Springs to solve your electric problems and run across your electrical requirements.
Call, e-mail, visit our website, or stop by our office today, and allow Swartz Electrical to serve You.
This is an original article written by Mai Bjorklund for Swartz Electric. This commodity may not be copied whole or in part without the express permission of Swartz Electric, LLC.
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Source: https://swartzelectric.biz/troubleshooting-light-bulbs-cfl/
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