Re: Dissecting CFLs

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Andrew Gabriel" <andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:466316a2$0$644$5a6aecb4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> In article <6sCdnUss9fNcTf_bnZ2dnUVZ_hqdnZ2d@xxxxxxx>,
> "Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> >
> > Has anyone cut open a CFL before?  Any pointers?
>
> Yes, and I've reused the control gear...
> http://www.cucumber.demon.co.uk/lights/diy/

Very interesting.  I notice some of the bulbs really discolored at the base
in your "fanned out" photo.  I've never seen a bulb twist like the Ikea's.
I assume these are all 220VAC units from the UK addy.  I don't see any
helical bulbs which appear to use narrower tubes.  Is that just a
coincidence or are they not available for 220VAC?

It looks as if you've opened them in a number of different ways.  What tool
did you use?  I think I seen the tell-tale curves left behind by a small
grinding wheel on some of the bases where you cut away the shell.

> At the time I wrote that article, low power electronic control
> gear was somewhere between expensive and unavailable. Now that
> it's more readily available, I wouldn't actually suggest reusing
> it from dead lamps, although the downlighters covered at the
> end of that article are all still running from the original
> 8 year old control gear from some Philips PL Electronic CFLs.

This is just an R&D exercise.  (Rip open and Destroy, in the best Brainiac
tradition. (-:  )