wrote in message
...
On Sep 20, 3:51 am, "larry moe 'n curly"
wrote:
On Sep 19, 6:00 pm, 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?

I don't think capacitors are the reason for the brightness change
because even many brand-new CFLs take time to reach full brightness,
especially when in the cold (even 75F). More likely, the circuitry
just doesn't compensate for the temperature of the fluorescent tube.
For example, here's the circuit board from the base of a failed
Maxlife brand CFL. The fluorescent tube connects at F1, F2, F3, and
F4, and notice on the far right is a space for a thermistor (PTC) that
connects between F1 and F4 on the other side, through a capacitor, C8,
that's also missing. The circuit board was built so it shorts across
C8. The big capacitor in the middle is rated 22uF, 200V, and Aishi is
considered a junk brand.

Another problem is opening up the CFL to get to the circuit board and
reattaching the cover because regular glues don't work, and you want a
strong bond that won't fail at high temperature.

.

http://imageshack.us/f/62/cflinside.jpg/

Can those who have opened them up tell us how best to do it and what
usually dies? I am amassing a collection of duds that didn't reach
anywhere near their promised lifetime (especially the more expensive
higher wattage ones) and I'm idly curious as to what use could be made
of them. From Larry's photo, there's quite a bit of electronics in
there, (which incidentally makes one wonder whether their lifetime
energy saving is really as high as is claimed, but that's another
matter).

Chris

Best use that could be made of them is to grind 'em up and use them for
hardcore for road building ... :-)

Arfa