CCFL Light Bulbs

[Brian H]

I recently purchased six Overdrive 15W/CCT2/DIM CCFL bulbs to test.
15 Watt, Dimmable CCFL, T2 Spiral, 525 Lumen, 40 Watt Equivalent

Reported to dim to 5% with proper dimmer. My LM465 Lamp Modules {Older and Soft Start} and Insteon LampLincs dimmed to maybe 25% and then flickered. Two of them have a slightly perceptible flicker even at 100%

Not as efficient as my 13-watt CFL bulbs that have about 800 Lumen 60 Watt Equivalent.

Manufacturer says Power factor >0.95. My Kill A Watt Meter read 0.90-0.91. The meter is on the low end of its range so there maybe errors.

In my opinion they get very Hot. The top over the electronics gets so hot on two of them. I can not easily touch them.

One, in about six hours, has started to discolor near the tube to cover entry point. The other four seem very warm but not as hot as the other two.

I used a Radio Shack 23-557 Indoor-Outdoor thermometers outside probe taped to the bulbs top cover. It went into an over range display. The last reading was 155.3 degrees F before the HH.H was displayed.

First time I powered them up they where dim and purple colored. After the initial warm up. They look fine everytime they are turned on.

Though cheaper than the lower wattage MicroBrite, TCPI and USHIO bubs. I don't feel comfortable using them.

I will be doing some tests with the hot one. As an added device in my automation setup. For some real time use.

Well after a few weeks of burning in for maybe 15 hours a day. The plastic near the tubes is turning dark brown and the top over the electronics is also getting slightly brown.

[eagle]

Never mind....  I originally posted asking if CFLs at Costco are okay to use with a Socket Rocket.  I didn't go far enough on the list of threads after doing a search on CFLs to see that they are compatible with the socket rocket.

Thanks,
eagle

[Dan Lawrence]

Socket Rockets do not dim so they are fine for CFLs.