Re: Do these exist: "Instant on" or very rapid start CFL???

["Robert Green" <robert_green1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"bob haller" <hallerb@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5d3392db-01b8-4345-a0a3-8442d4c1446f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jun 9, 7:34 pm, Smarty <nob...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On 6/9/2011 5:48 PM, larry moe 'n curly wrote:
>
> > Smarty wrote:
> >> Is there such a thing as a true "instant start" CFL which produces full
> >> intensity brightness as soon as it is turned on?
> > I have some. They come on immediately, turn off, on, off, and then
> > finally stay on. They're first generation Philips CFLs with a
> > permanent 60 Hz ballast in the base and replacable fluorescent tube.
> > Heavy, too -- some floor lamps can't be trusted to stand up with one
> > installed.
>
> > As for modern CFLs, I don't know what brands or models are instant-on,
> > but I know they exist because some of them have circuit boards
> > designed for a thermistor (temperature sensitive resistor), but the
> > thermistor is left out (Max-lite, both original large base and newer
> > small base models).
>
> I thank you for your reply and wonder if any of the modern CFLs which
> use the circuit board you describe actually do come up to full
> brightness very rapidly. If you have any specifics, please provide them
> as I am glad to explore other options, mostly out of curiosity since I
> have found the hybrid GE bulbs.
>
> It seems that heating the filament and vaporizing some mercury cannot be
> done instantly, despite claims to the contrary. GE's solution, using a
> second halogen bulb temporarily, makes a whole lot of sense to me, and
> illustrates the reality that a purely fluorescent lamp will take a
> little time to warm up.

In the past I had a X 10 motion sensitive system on my pole light.
Nice idea worked terrible:( temperature and noisey line unstable.

I thought about some work arounds but decided it wasnt worth it.

Has anyone tried LED lamps on X 10?

they didnt exist when I last played with it.

X 10 was wonderful for my elderly grandma it controlled so much around
here:)
====================================================
You also sound like a candidate for Jeff Volp's XTB line of
repeater/coupler/amplifiers:

http://jvde.us/xtb/xtb_reports.htm

I have not tried LED bulbs with X-10 because I was burned as an early
adopter of CFLs and the price is still too high.  That's why I was
interested in the hybrid bulb, to see if they behaved somewhat better under
X-10 control.

Something someone just wrote about resistive inserts in the back of LED
flashlights has given me an idea.  CFL's confound stock X-10 devices because
X-10 depends on trickle current passing through the bulbs both the power the
controller module and to detect "local switching."  By leaking a tiny bit of
current (IIRC, about 5ma) through the filament, the circuitry was able to
detect someone flipping the switch on the lamp base and thus activate the
module.  This trickle current does NOT pass through a CFL bulb circuitry the
same way.

But what if someone made a small disk that was screwed into the socket
between the CFL and the center socket pin that contained a resistor that
allowed just enough current to pass to still power the module electronics
and the "local sense" feature?  Wouldn't that disk also prevent the current
that leaks through the CFL bulb from causing it to flash or in some cases
relight itself completely?  Do they still sell those little "bulb life
extender" disks that fit into the sockets the same way I've described?

--
Bobby G.