Re: Does anyone know who is making these light bulbs?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Slammer" <mjinks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:_5-dnSIWMIjqqZnbnZ2dnUVZ_h2pnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> "Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:AaCdnRDoEqNKupnbnZ2dnUVZ_vWtnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxx
> > "Robert L Bass" <no-sales-spam@bassburglaralarms> wrote in message
> > news:2tWdnZb1YepKlpnbnZ2dnUVZ_vumnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >> Following are a few sources:
> >> http://www.bosstar.com/ (appears to be a manufacturer)
> >> http://www.mbelectronics.com (retailer)
> >> http://www.maxim-ic.com/appnotes.cfm/appnote_number/3528 (application
> > notes)
> >> http://www.sunbeamtech.com/ (PC supplier)
> >
> > Thanks. These apparently are all long, small tubes.  CCFL's are very
> > popular
> > as laptop backlights but I have been looking all day for 110VAC
screw-base
> > CCFL's to no avail.  They sound very useful for lights controlled by
> > motion
> > detectors and places where waiting for a CFL to come to full brightness
> > might be a safety issues, like staircases.  We're due for another big
rate
> > increase in the DC area and I'd like to find CFL's that work in the
places
> > that have previously given me problems.
> >
> > --
> > Bobby G.
>
> READ the application notes above.
>
> You won't find any 120VAC screw type CCFL. They need a step-up
> transformer as they operate at 180-800VAC or higher.

Sorry.  I should have indicated why I was interested in the CCFLs.  The
Wikipedia article strongly suggested such lamps were available in standard
formats, indirectly, I suppose, but here's what they said:

"Initially CCFL was used for thin monitors and backlighting, but now it is
also manufactured for use as a lightbulb"

A little further on they say "are also an effective and efficient
replacement for lighting that is turned on and off frequently with little
extended use (e.g. a half-bath or closet)."

That *sounds* like a screw-base standard lightbulb format, but they spell
some words with a British flavour so they may be talking about 240VAC mains.

> Since this is most
> often a 2-3V source, the switching is done at 100KHz or higher. A
> 120:1200 VAC transformer with current limiting circuitry would be too
> expensive. Beware some pwr supplies operate at 5,000VAC--so 300V
> or 600V insulation is a no-no. I'd buy the wiring harness/set.

Dude, it's screw-in bulbs or screw it altogether! (-:  I was attracted by
the claim:

"Advantages are that it is (1) instant-on, like an incandescent, (2)
compatible with timers, photocells, and dimmers, and (3) has an amazingly
long life of approximately 50,000 hours."

That would be a great bulb for the stairways and the bathroom.  CFL's don't
last long when operated 40 times a day.

<stuff snipped>

> See

Thanks for the cites.  I don't think I'm uninterested if it's not "plug
compatible" as the mainframers used to say.  I was reading up on "choppers"
when I came across the description of the CCFL's as replacement for regular
CFL's and hoped someone out there was actually using one or knew where to
buy one.

> What's wrong with LED's? They are intrinically safe.

Nothing.  As far as I know.  I wonder how they'll live with X-10?  My
experience with early CFL's that required filters, $10 a bulb, modulectomies
AND that failed quite early inclines me NOT to be on the leading edge of the
LED lighting wave. (-:  I did buy some great LED flashlights and emergency
lights recently because they are so miserly with battery power and lose no
energy to voltage conversion, but they still seem a little too weird,
lightwise.  Maybe in time.

--
Bobby G.