CFL Bulbs

[John T]

I pretty much ALREADY know the answer, but am gonna toss this out anyhow. So, on each outer bay of my pole barn I like a night light so have used a cheap screw in day/night switch with a long life incandescent bulb that works pretty well. I have always noticed, however, when those lights first come on they tend to oscillate a while n sort of warm n build up to full brightness (takes maybe 3 seconds or so).

Being a "Green" (yeah right) sorta guy (actually dont wanna pay REMC more then I have to) I try those energy saving fluorescent lights BUT THAT DAY NIGHT THINGY SORT OF FRIES THEM IN A COUPLE DAYS GRRRRRRRRRR Sooooooooo I see these big enclosed flood light lookin energy saver bulbs at Mendards (120 watts of light for 23 watts use) and give them a try SURE ENOUGH THEY ONLY LASTED TWO DAYS GRRRRRRRRRRRRR

It seems those cheap day/night briefly oscillating fixtures dont breed well with the CFL light bulbs and fries the elecronics somehow. So I gotta either find a day/night controller thats compatible with the CFL bulbs or just stick in a full time CFL and let them burn till they die.

Any thoughts or ideas out there?????

John T (Hey I was an Electrical NOT Electronics Engineer remember)

 

[Sidekick]

I like a night light in my pole barn too. What I did was use a cfl bulb in a bulb to outlet adapter and plugged it in an out of the way outlet. It's been on for over a year now. Don't try to control it. Just let it burn.

 

[Doug Sr.]

Try letting the day/ night switch turn a relay on and off and let the relay turn the light on. The relay just has a coil and not electronics.

 

[M-MAN]

John T;
Toss the light sensor & put it on a timer. No electronic's compatability issues that way.

Sounds like your sensor isn't delivering full voltage to the bulb when it first makes contact since it takes a few minutes to stabilize. The cfl work's similar, but it has a built in starter that needs that needs full voltage to start.

You could fix what you have since you're THE lectrical guru. Just measure the voltage & amp's on both to see what you need, do the two pages of math to figure the capacitor size needed and wire it in between the two gadget's. That will give the cfl the boost it needs to start properly. Too much work for me & I really HATED those formula's so I would just go with a timer.

 

[Kurt_JDB]

John,

Have you checked your voltage at the socket? Being at the end of the run, (I am guessing) maybe you have an undervolt condition that is not playing well with either the photoelectric switch and/or the power electronic in the CFL.

Otherwise, I would try a different photoelectric switch that is rated for CFL bulbs.

Kurt

 

[JDD]

Amertac® Outdoor Dusk to Dawn Light Sensor Control for CFL Bulbs (SLC5BCW)

Available at Ace Hardware Stores. $12.00. Just my 2 cents worth of google. Bill

 

[John T]

Tonight I got new CFL bulbs and have them screwed in direct so I dont fry anymore. I think I will take a trip to ACE as jdd suggested n get some CFL compatible day/night controllers...Then I will have the best of both worlds as far as reducing my energy costs.

Thanks yall

John T

 

[Mark57_420]

Cheap light sensors tend to oscillate between on and off when they first turn on or when they turn off. This will fry any fluorescent lamp quickly. A higher quality sensor with some hysteresis (the turn on and turn off trip points are separated by some amount of light) will fix the problem.

BTW - next time you're in Wal-Mart look at all the lamps that are out. I'll bet you'll see about 1/4 of the lights are out and about another 1/4 that are flickering, on their way to dying. They tried to put dimmers on them to "be green" and that's what they got.

 

[Bob]

Didn't like my LED light idea, eh?