Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

I have recently fitted a few compact fluorescent lamps (Phillips
Ecotone) in my house. When they are switched off, they occasionally
flicker briefly. (First noticed a few days ago when I came home very
late and crept upstairs in traditional husband manner without
switching the light on).Is this normal - or a symptom of a
horrendously expensive electrical fault?
Charles

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

Subject: Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
From: (charles adams)

I have recently fitted a few compact fluorescent lamps (Phillips
Ecotone) in my house. When they are switched off, they occasionally
flicker briefly. (First noticed a few days ago when I came home very
late and crept upstairs in traditional husband manner without
switching the light on).Is this normal - or a symptom of a
horrendously expensive electrical fault?
Charles

Sounds like some sort of fault, not necessarily electrical, could be RF in your
wiring that causes it.

I am sure that others will expand on what I have wrote.

John.

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

"charles adams" wrote in message
om...
I have recently fitted a few compact fluorescent lamps (Phillips
Ecotone) in my house. When they are switched off, they occasionally
flicker briefly. (First noticed a few days ago when I came home very
late and crept upstairs in traditional husband manner without
switching the light on).Is this normal - or a symptom of a
horrendously expensive electrical fault?
Charles

Yep, creeping up the stairs late at night without switching on the lights is
perfectly normal husband behaviour (welcome to the club).

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

"NumptyDumpty" wrote in message ...
"charles adams" wrote in message
om...
I have recently fitted a few compact fluorescent lamps (Phillips
Ecotone) in my house. When they are switched off, they occasionally
flicker briefly. (First noticed a few days ago when I came home very
late and crept upstairs in traditional husband manner without
switching the light on).Is this normal - or a symptom of a
horrendously expensive electrical fault?
Charles

Yep, creeping up the stairs late at night without switching on the lights is
perfectly normal husband behaviour (welcome to the club).

Yes, many thanks for the tutorial in club behaviour!
However, does anyone have an on-thread opinion about the fluorescent flicker?
Thanks, Charles

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

In message on Wed, 3
Mar 2004, charles adams wrote
"NumptyDumpty" wrote in message
...
"charles adams" wrote in message
om...
I have recently fitted a few compact fluorescent lamps (Phillips
Ecotone) in my house. When they are switched off, they occasionally
flicker briefly. (First noticed a few days ago when I came home very
late and crept upstairs in traditional husband manner without
switching the light on).Is this normal - or a symptom of a
horrendously expensive electrical fault?
Charles

Yep, creeping up the stairs late at night without switching on the lights is
perfectly normal husband behaviour (welcome to the club).

Yes, many thanks for the tutorial in club behaviour! However, does
anyone have an on-thread opinion about the fluorescent flicker? Thanks,
Charles

Hello, I've had this problem for a while with one bulb; I spoke to
Philips technical help line who said that this happens from time to time
with particular specimens of the bulb - change the bulb to a different
one and it goes away. It occurs when the bulb is used in a two or
multi-way switched environment and the rest of the explanation about
voltage build up leading to the bulb thinking it was going to strike but
then not was not, for me, very complete or convincing.

Regards, Colin


--
Colin Brook - Winchester (UK)

Fax:+44(0)8701641293 Mobile:07976258703

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

Colin Brook wrote:
Hello, I've had this problem for a while with one bulb; I spoke to
Philips technical help line who said that this happens from time to
time
with particular specimens of the bulb - change the bulb to a different
one and it goes away. It occurs when the bulb is used in a two or
multi-way switched environment and the rest of the explanation about
voltage build up leading to the bulb thinking it was going to strike
but
then not was not, for me, very complete or convincing.

Possible- I guess the bulbs are very high resistance when off, so induced
voltages won't dissipate. The unit then gets to the point where it sees 240V
on the input and tries to switch on, but as soon as it draws current it
loses the voltage. If so, shoving a resistor in excess of say half a megohm
across the screw terminals in the light fitting would stop the flicker. With
a light that shows repeatable flicker you could then increase the resistance
to get the highest possible value (hence smallest waste current when on)
that solves the problem.

--
Dr. Craig Graham, Software Engineer
Advanced Analysis and Integration Limited, UK. http://www.aail.co.uk/

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 13:21:44 UTC, Colin Brook
wrote:

It occurs when the bulb is used in a two or
multi-way switched environment

Can anyone explain why, though?


--
Bob Eager
begin by not using Outlook Express...

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

Craig Graham wrote in message ...

.. If so, shoving a resistor in excess of say half a megohm
across the screw terminals in the light fitting would stop the flicker.
With
a light that shows repeatable flicker you could then increase the
resistance
to get the highest possible value (hence smallest waste current when on)
that solves the problem.


If you're going to do this use a VR37 type resistor. These are the only
products likely to survive being used in this application.

Regards
Capitol

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

Craig Graham wrote:
Colin Brook wrote:
Hello, I've had this problem for a while with one bulb; I spoke to
Philips technical help line who said that this happens from time to
time
with particular specimens of the bulb - change the bulb to a different
one and it goes away. It occurs when the bulb is used in a two or
multi-way switched environment and the rest of the explanation about
voltage build up leading to the bulb thinking it was going to strike
but
then not was not, for me, very complete or convincing.

Possible- I guess the bulbs are very high resistance when off, so induced
voltages won't dissipate. The unit then gets to the point where it sees 240V
on the input and tries to switch on, but as soon as it draws current it
loses the voltage. If so, shoving a resistor in excess of say half a megohm

I'd guess this is voltage fed into the bulb, and rectified into DC to feed
the storage capacitor (this is used to eliminate flicker).
The leakage on this is probably well under a microamp.
Any current over this will cause the capacitor to gradually be charged.
Once it gets up to somewhere over a hundred volts or so, it'll try to start,
but as it's only got the energy in the capacitor, and none more coming in,
just flicker.

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

"Bob Eager" wrote in message ...
On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 13:21:44 UTC, Colin Brook
wrote:

It occurs when the bulb is used in a two or
multi-way switched environment

Can anyone explain why, though?

capacitive coupling. It happens more when the neutral is swithed
instead of the live.

Regards, NT

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

"charles adams" wrote in message
Thanks, but what the 'ng 'll is capacatitive coupling?!. Please answer
as if to a flatliner!

An electrical charge induced in one wire in close proximity to another wire
with a voltage on it.
Or even simpler if the switch is off, there is still a small amount of
electricity on the off side of the switch, Not enough to bite (usually :-)
but enough to light a bulb now and then.

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 00:48:13 -0000, "G&M" wrote:

An electrical charge induced in one wire in close proximity to another wire
with a voltage on it.

A slightly modified description - "...with a CHANGING voltage on it".

Capacitors don't pass DC but do pass AC. By comparison an inductor
does pass DC but won't pass AC.

Theoretically anyway - there are always leakages :)

PoP

---
If you need to contact me please submit your comments
via the web form at http://www.anyoldtripe.co.uk. I'll
probably still ignore you but at least I'll get the
message..... :)

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

PoP wrote:
On Sun, 14 Mar 2004 00:48:13 -0000, "G&M" wrote:

An electrical charge induced in one wire in close proximity to another wire
with a voltage on it.

A slightly modified description - "...with a CHANGING voltage on it".

Capacitors don't pass DC but do pass AC. By comparison an inductor
does pass DC but won't pass AC.

An inductor certainly *does* pass AC, it's just that its impedance
increases with frequency whereas a capacitor's impedance decreases
with frequency. A capacitor is the inverse of an inductor, a perfect
capacitor has infinite resistance to DC, a perfect inductor has zero
resistance to DC.

--
Chris Green

Flicker of compact fluorescent lamps
 

On 14 Mar 2004 11:34:45 GMT, wrote:

An inductor certainly *does* pass AC, it's just that its impedance
increases with frequency whereas a capacitor's impedance decreases
with frequency. A capacitor is the inverse of an inductor, a perfect
capacitor has infinite resistance to DC, a perfect inductor has zero
resistance to DC.

I was painting blue sky. I am fully aware that an inductor will pass
AC, but confusing people with logical explanation did not seem to be
the order of the day.

Christ, some people do like banging their soapbox's ;)

PoP

---
If you need to contact me please submit your comments
via the web form at http://www.anyoldtripe.co.uk. I'll
probably still ignore you but at least I'll get the
message..... :)