In article qvVQj.96386$Cj7.75581@pd7urf2no, Tony Hwang wrote:
Don Klipstein wrote:
In article uuSQj.96222$Cj7.13450@pd7urf2no, Tony Hwang wrote:

Came across a 23W dimmable CFL. Got one to try it out.
It worked ~2 hours and pop, it went to full brightness and
no more dimmable??!! Are they this unreliable? Or I got bad one.

Please tell us the details!

The usual "dimmable CFL" to most looking for those means one that is
safely usable with a "usual light dimmer". I find it hard to believe a
lamp refusing completely to be dimmed by a usual-for-incandescent-type
dimmer. Non-dimmable lamps tend to have short life expectancy when used
with a dimmer against their instructions, and may blow the dimmer.
Usually the lamp is what dies.

- Don Klipstein )
Hi,
Packaging clearly said it is dimmable. I screwed it in side by side with
60W incdescent lamp, dimmed up and down a few times and noticed when
dimmed too low it was scintillating. At certain point it quit doing that
where I left it. Soon it went to full brightness while the other lamp
was still dimmed. From then on it is no more dimming, just stay at full
bightness.

I suspect the ballast circuitry in the CFL had part of it fail, and the
CFL converted itself into a conventional CFL. Those can have hardly any
dimming and can appear to be at full brightness until the dimmer is dimmed
past the point at which an incandescent has about 1/4 its normal
brightness. They can also be hard on the dimmer.

CFLs also often dim more slowly than incandescents do at first, being
about half brightness (or more) at a point at which an incandescent is
about 1/4 brightness. A CFL may start dimming more rapidly when dimmed
almost to being off, or may just suddenly turn off.

Special dimming ballasts for ballastless CFLs do better.

- Don Klipstein )