Michael Daly wrote:
On 30-Oct-2005, Tim Killian wrote:


It would make sense to put more money into the quality of the ballast
electronics and use pin-type, replaceable lamps instead of the
throw-away crappola currently used in the screw-base CFL bulbs.


Absolutely true, but a tad pricey if all you want is to replace the
bulb in a lamp. If you are remodeling a house/room, doing it with
pin type certainly makes sense.

Mike

Another issue I see with the screw-in CFLs is the way heat is
dissipated. As long as the bulb is above the base, heat from the ballast
circuit board will rise up and away from the components. Mounted in any
other position, heat will soak the circuit board and could cause to
premature failure. The circuit board I took out had one, large
electrolytic capacitor mounted on long leads to put it toward the base
end of the lamp. These capacitors tend to dry out and become useless if
they're exposed to heat, and that's probably why the Chinese tried to
locate it away from the other components on the board. Overall, quite a
kludge -- I'm surprised UL approves these things.