Martin Brown wrote:
On 20/12/2017 17:03, Brian Gaff wrote:
I'd not think such a low wattage cfl should get in any way warm at all. I
have one in a light here and I cannot tell its on after half an hour to the
touch, though the thing did look a little odd I'm told.

CFLs are not all that efficient and a 23W one is really pushing it for
efficiency and dissipation needed to stay cool enough to survive. In
anything other than free air with plenty of convection it will fail.

I wonder why its heating up unless its a cheap under rated chinese copy
that will fall to bits when the heat glue melts liike one I had from B/Q!
Brian

It is heating up because of losses in the power supply. Unlike filament
bulbs a CFL or LED has a rather low maximum operating temperature.

If it's a 23 watt CFL then all of that 23 watts ends up as heat, some
(20% or so?) will be radiated away from the lamp as light and become
heat when absorbed elsewhere but most of that 23 watts will simply
heat up the lamp itself. Even if the power supply is 100% efficient
there will be 15 to 20 watts being lost in the lamp.

--
Chris Green
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