CFL bulbs
Have three of them in front of the outside of my house on a hard wired timer. Been there for a couple of years. Today I noticed that when they were off two of them were flickering a little. One more t...
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Just means they need replacing. They can do that when they are winding down and on the way out. If you look at the base of a CFL lamp and the glass is blackened, it's definitely time to replace it. We have a bunch around the outside of our house on a photocell & timer and they never seem to last as long as they should -very annoying. You may have better luck if you go to an electrical wholesale place and get good quality ones, not the cheapo box store ones.
Sometimes it's also a ballast, but in a CFL gets replaced because they're in the base of the lamps. Flickering can also happen at low temps. during the first minute or so until warmed up or if trying to use a solid state timer. If you have a solid state timer/control, switch to one with dry contacts.
What I don't like about these is that they have a very low power factor and are not very efficient. They draw about double the current the wattage rating would indicate. If you look at say a 13 watt lamp and take the amps printed on it and multiply it by 120 volts, you get about double the wattage ("volt-amps" to be correct).
Sometimes it's also a ballast, but in a CFL gets replaced because they're in the base of the lamps. Flickering can also happen at low temps. during the first minute or so until warmed up or if trying to use a solid state timer. If you have a solid state timer/control, switch to one with dry contacts.
What I don't like about these is that they have a very low power factor and are not very efficient. They draw about double the current the wattage rating would indicate. If you look at say a 13 watt lamp and take the amps printed on it and multiply it by 120 volts, you get about double the wattage ("volt-amps" to be correct).
