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Andrew Gabriel Andrew Gabriel is offline
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Default Them new-fangled flourescent lights

In article ,
Cursitor Doom writes:
Gentlemen,

Back in the 1960s, when tubes were coming into service more and more, it
was a widely held belief that they were more expensive to run than
tungsten filament bulbs if turned on for short periods. It was said that
most of the power they consumed was drawn during the 'strike-up' phase so
if they weren't on for at *least* an hour, you might as well be using TF
bulbs.
Well, here we are 50+ years on and tubes are now very much old tech.
What, with the benefit of hindsight, have the Panel to say about those
old efficiency claims of the day?

Just curious.....


They were never true.
What was the case was that each switch-on wore the tube out by the
equivalent of some hours running. The instant-start fittings which
were common in the US suffered from this particularly badly. The
switch-start used in most 220-240V countries much less so, but it
was still a significant effect.

--
Andrew Gabriel
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