Sylvia Else wrote:
Has anyone here tried retrofitting low ESR capacitors to CFLs with a
view to improving their turn-on performance - i.e. so that they reach
full brightness quickly?

Sylvia.

**The full brightness thing is not associated with the electronics. It's an
issue with the gas in the tube and, to a lesser extent, the phosphor
coating. You can prove this for yourself, by measuring the light output of a
standard (iron ballast) fluoro. Light output gradually increases over a few
seconds (or minutes, depending on ambient temperature).

Don't sweat it anyway, LEDs will replace them in most applications very
soon. I've been mucking about with a couple of these recently:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/12w-350...p-12-14v-80310

It delivers almost double the light output of an 11 Watt T5 fluoro and is
far more compact, dimmable and has nicer colour temperature.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au