"Sylvia Else" wrote in message
...
On 20/09/2011 1:11 PM, Trevor Wilson wrote:
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.


Having got used to the higher colour temperatures of CFLs, I find that I
prefer them.

Incandescents weren't given a lower colour temperature because people
preferred them, it was just the way they came out. If the first practical
domestic electric lights had been of daylight colour temperature, I
imagine that's what everyone would always have wanted, and people would
have given short shrift to this yellow rubbish.

However, I note that the led emitter strips are available in higher colour
temperatures.

Sylvia.



I was given to understand that the colour of an incandescent bulb is what
humans are comfortable with, because it closely matches the colour and
spectrum of our sun. As I have said on here before, I for one, am not
comfortable with the light quality from CFLs, no matter what variety or
supposed colour temperature they are. I fully accept that this might be to
do with my eyes or brain or whatever, and that others don't feel that they
have the problem, but by the same token, I know many other people -
particularly over 50's like myself - that have the same difficulty with
them. Thus far, I have not been that impressed with the spectrum or light
quality from LEDs in a domestic setting either, but this technology is
currently moving and improving fast, so I'll keep an open mind on that at
the moment.

Arfa