cancel
Showing results forย 
Search instead forย 
Did you mean:ย 

CFL bulbs

FlatBroke
Explorer II
Explorer II
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 than the other. They never get real bright and flicker pretty fast. Hard to believe if it was a timer problem as one doesn't do it at all. Any ideas?

Hitch Hiker
"08" 29.5 FKTG LS
77 REPLIES 77

NinerBikes
Explorer
Explorer
SCVJeff wrote:
SO..... If I buy one from the guy out in Quartzsite and stick it in my pocket, other than erasing my entire wallet, will it ..?..?..?..?..?..?......... Also?


It won't work on the wife's titanium hip or knee, but I'd for sure remove it out of my waders before going steelhead fishing.

Can you wave your hand back and forth at 60 Hz holding that magnet? CFL's might get excited at that rate, perhaps?

Let me guess, you are so full of electromagnetic radiation that you can cause clouds to glow in the dark, as in this picture?

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
SO..... If I buy one from the guy out in Quartzsite and stick it in my pocket, other than erasing my entire wallet, will it ..?..?..?..?..?..?......... Also?
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

NinerBikes
Explorer
Explorer
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
ELECTROMAGNETIC S IS A VERY ATTRACTIVE FIELD

hahajajajijihoho

But I did about 95% of the work needed for my doctorate. Dissertation half done. Holographic projection of an electromagnetic field. I handed all my work over to Lawrence Livermore.Gran Mal temper tantrum...


Oh, I see the pun there... Electromagnetic... attractive... if women were steel, would you be sporting neodymium in your shorts?

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
ELECTROMAGNETIC S IS A VERY ATTRACTIVE FIELD

hahajajajijihoho

But I did about 95% of the work needed for my doctorate. Dissertation half done. Holographic projection of an electromagnetic field. I handed all my work over to Lawrence Livermore.Gran Mal temper tantrum...
OH ?

Care to share any of that Livermore experience? We won't tell.... ๐Ÿ™‚
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
Vulcan Rider wrote:
ChopperBill wrote:
BUT, they flicker when I touch the bulb and quit when I pull my finger away.


NEWS FLASH: Almost every person walks around with some kind of electrostatic charge on their body. Sometimes it's more and sometimes less depending on conditions.

IF you could grab a good ground with one hand, chances are that the other hand then would NOT make the bulb glow.
its purely capicatance coupling.
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
ChopperBill wrote:
Bulbs quit flickering even when I manually turned them on and off. BUT, they flicker when I touch the bulb and quit when I pull my finger away. I must be magic or someone special OR got a problem with what ever you guys have been arguing about. LOL
wanna see something funny.. Hit it with a flashlight and the rest of the tube will likely dimly illuminate.
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350

FlatBroke
Explorer II
Explorer II
Vulcan Rider wrote:
ChopperBill wrote:
BUT, they flicker when I touch the bulb and quit when I pull my finger away.


NEWS FLASH: Almost every person walks around with some kind of electrostatic charge on their body. Sometimes it's more and sometimes less depending on conditions.

IF you could grab a good ground with one hand, chances are that the other hand then would NOT make the bulb glow.

NEWS FLASH: grabbed a ground bulb flashed. I'm magic LOL. Gotta be the old style timer that was mentioned in a post way back.

Hitch Hiker
"08" 29.5 FKTG LS

Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Explorer
ChopperBill wrote:
BUT, they flicker when I touch the bulb and quit when I pull my finger away.


NEWS FLASH: Almost every person walks around with some kind of electrostatic charge on their body. Sometimes it's more and sometimes less depending on conditions.

IF you could grab a good ground with one hand, chances are that the other hand then would NOT make the bulb glow.

MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Explorer
ELECTROMAGNETIC S IS A VERY ATTRACTIVE FIELD

hahajajajijihoho

But I did about 95% of the work needed for my doctorate. Dissertation half done. Holographic projection of an electromagnetic field. I handed all my work over to Lawrence Livermore.Gran Mal temper tantrum...

FlatBroke
Explorer II
Explorer II
Bulbs quit flickering even when I manually turned them on and off. BUT, they flicker when I touch the bulb and quit when I pull my finger away. I must be magic or someone special OR got a problem with what ever you guys have been arguing about. LOL

Hitch Hiker
"08" 29.5 FKTG LS

Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Explorer
wa8yxm wrote:
Built in generators and inverters are almost always bonded. Most small portable generators are unbonded.



Good diagram but it seems to show BOTH chassis bond and ground and the implication that those two things are different.

Of course, when sitting on the tires alone, there will not be a true ground. And I assume it is strictly forbidden to ever have the generator connected to shore power......so there never will be a true ground unless you run a wire and drive a stake.

Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Explorer
road-runner wrote:
The white wire is bonded to ground via the outlet that the shore cord plugs into.

It does not sense current in the ground wire for this feature, either.


I kind of figured the first part out on my own.
In effect, the entire coach looks just like a huge "appliance" to the power grid; the ground comes from the grid, not the "appliance".

And I was wrong about the functioning of a GFI. The main thing sensed is a difference in the current flow on the two supply wires and that really has nothing to do with "ground". It may also detect current flow on the ground wire but that's a plus and not really necessary.....I think. In a mobile coach application, it really is not a "ground fault" detector unless you are connected to shore power.

Thanks for all the answers.
I think I'll take a meter to mine and see for sure what is what when running on generator power.

Wayne_Dohnal
Explorer
Explorer
Deleted post.
2009 Fleetwood Icon 24A
Honda Fit dinghy with US Gear brake system
LinkPro battery monitor - EU2000i generator

NinerBikes
Explorer
Explorer
Gdetrailer wrote:
NinerBikes wrote:
A CFL has an anode, and a cathode and usually a starter choke ballast.

How they work

Porcelain lamp fixture for a lightbulb, be it CFL or argon gas and tungsten white hot heated element.

There is no green wire "ground" for the fixture, hence no ground for the light bulb.





End of debate. Also agreed, a Honda generator, or any other generator has no "Ground" or "earth" Connection, unless you want to pound a Ufer ground rod into the ground and tie it in to the ground wire, although it is perfectly unnecessary.

It is necessary when you are tied into the electrical grid, as the source of electricity, usually a huge generator, is then tied into ground also to provide a short circuit path.


That link has very outdated information concerning not only CFLs but most all MODERN DAY fluorescents.

Early CFLs did indeed use a iron core "ballast", I had a few of those..

Modern day CFLs actually use an ELECTRONIC "Ballast" which is a fancy term for switching power supply!

Simply put, modern day CFLS have a built in switching powersupply which is very simular to say your PC power supply but instead of 3, 5, 12V DC they have several HUNDRED VOLTS..

Modern day CFLs actually can be run on DC provided you have 50-70V DC!

Modern day fluorescent fixtures no longer use the old iron ballasts either, instead once again they now use switching power power supplies which deliver several hundred volts..

If you don't believe me, go to home depot and take a good look at replacement ballasts.. You will find only electronic versions due to efficiency regulations..


No need to believe or disbelieve, I'm a general contractor, you are correct, almost all ballasts now are electronic, the electrical code for energy efficiency is a royal PIA for me and clients nowadays, staying current and up with it.

I may be one of the few that have met SCVJeff in person and seen his rig and his work. One word... respect, with anything he does that involves electromagnetic energy, in all it's forms.

There's a fair amount of highly technical guys around here, read enough and you'll know who's EE rated and who still needs to be qualified. I don't have my EE, so I shut up if it's over my head.