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aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

CFL mystery

A couple of months ago I had a CFL burned out in the hallway (showing the usual signs of darkening near the base) so I replaced it with another one that was used previously, but pulled for some reason.

Fast forward to last week, and I noticed that my hallway is not lit when I turned on the light. Tightened the bulb, then put it into the other side -- no change, and when I put an incandescent into either socket, that one was working just fine everywhere.

I also inspected and smelled the non-functional CFL and couldn't see or smell anything wrong with it. Since I wanted to recycle the bulb, I just left in the fixture and put in another CFL to the opposite side. That was several days ago. Yesterday I noticed that my hallway is unusually bright, and guess what, the 'dead' CFL came back to life...  

Did anyone seen anything like this before? It's summer here, so the temperature can't possible be too low, though when I noticed that the bulb was not working it was probably around 70 - 75F, and now it's in the 80s. My AC is pretty stable, and it's usually between 120.0 .. 121.5V.

robbin
Mod
join:2000-09-21
Leander, TX

1 recommendation

robbin

Mod

Sometimes the center terminal in the socket on older light fixtures needs to be bent out a little to make solid contact.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

2 recommendations

nunya to aurgathor

MVM

to aurgathor
Happens all the time. I still have a CFL in my bedroom. About 25% of the time it simply doesn't come on. It's not the socket, it's just a crappy CFL. All the other lamps are LED, so it's no big deal. Some day soon I'll bring the stepladder in and put the CFL out of its misery.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt to aurgathor

MVM

to aurgathor
I think robbin See Profile and nunya See Profile are correct, it is one or the other.

Turn off the power and pry up the center contact a little.

/tom

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

Thanks for the replies. It's definitely not the center terminal -- that was eliminated during the initial trouble shooting.

The interesting thing is that it's not even intermittent -- it works just fine now, but it wasn't working for several days. (and no, I didn't touch it to make it work)

BTW, It's a Maxlite SKB11EA, similar to what's shown here: »www.maxlite.com/products ··· inibulbs
BillyJoeJim
join:2003-07-23
Moline, IL

BillyJoeJim to aurgathor

Member

to aurgathor
I had the same experience with a CFL bulb a few months ago. It stopped working and I made myself a mental note to replace it. By the time I got around to looking at it a couple days later it was working again. It continued working for another week or two and then died again.
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1 to aurgathor

Premium Member

to aurgathor
I've found CFL to be undependable and flaky, now that LED have come down somewhat in price I have much better success with them.

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor to BillyJoeJim

Member

to BillyJoeJim
said by BillyJoeJim:

I had the same experience with a CFL bulb a few months ago. It stopped working and I made myself a mental note to replace it. By the time I got around to looking at it a couple days later it was working again. It continued working for another week or two and then died again.

Good to see a confirmation that I'm not seeing things!

I've had a few flaky CFLs before, but in those cases I could clearly see that:
a) there were darkening inside and/or trying to start (normal wearout)
b) they were pink (low mercury)
and in those cases the bulbs were getting progressively worse fairly quickly, but this one seems to be working just fine now.

So this appears to be a case I've never seen before. Anyhow, the other bulb is currently unscrewed a bit, so if this bulb bites the dust or go on a strike again, I should notice it.

It's a bit late, but I should've hooked it up to my Kill-A-Watt to see if it was drawing any current when it was not working properly.

cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro to aurgathor

Premium Member

to aurgathor
I have one in the bathroom that only turns on sometimes. If it starts when I flip the switch then it stays on, if it doesn't then it stays off - so it's not the contact. Sometimes flipping the switch off-on causes it to no longer come on (I noticed it mostly happens when it's still cold, but almost never after it has run for a while). There is another bulb in the fixture so I know it's not the switch.

Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium Member
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

Subaru to aurgathor

Premium Member

to aurgathor
Had that happen with Ecosmart CFL's when I put all 4 in recessed lighting the last one would burn out within days.. so I switched the last one out to another brand and it was fine..

I wonder if something electrical with so many on the one circuit was playing havoc with it?

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

Just put a scope on it.....

In my case, originally, it was a single bulb in a fixture for two.

Subaru
1-3-2-4
Premium Member
join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

Subaru

Premium Member

Well after returning the bulbs 3 different times I just decided to go with another brand

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

1 recommendation

aurgathor

Member

You could've just left the last bulb out....

Cho Baka
MVM
join:2000-11-23
there

Cho Baka to aurgathor

MVM

to aurgathor
Is the bulb rated for "burn base down only" or "not for use in enclosed fixtures"?

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

No idea. But it's a free hanging fixture with very good a cooling, so it shouldn't matter.

printscreen
join:2003-11-01
Juana Diaz, PR

printscreen to aurgathor

Member

to aurgathor
I had a similar situation with Ecosmart CFLs not long ago. I noticed that one bulb in my kitchen was apparently burned out so I took the opportunity to go and buy two LED bulbs to replace them. So I got the LED bulbs and went to replace both bulbs. I intended to keep the good one as spare for my bathroom which has identical light fixture and identical CLFs of about the same age. In the process I mixed up the old bulbs and could not tell which was the bad. Then when I tested both in another fixture, both worked. So there, I have two spares one of which was the supposedly bad CFL. Up to the last moment when I took them out for replacement the bad one was still not working. It wasn't a matter of loose of bad contacts because I had removed it the day before to confirm it wasn't loose.
towerdave
join:2002-01-16
O Fallon, IL

towerdave to aurgathor

Member

to aurgathor
I'm having a very similar issue in our bathroom. 2 fixtures, 2 bulbs each. The left side bulb in each fixture is currently out. (CFLs) But they may come back on in the future. If they are completely dead, and I replace them, the new bulbs will work for a period of time, then start flickering and go off for a bit, then intermittently work for a while, then go completely dead. After reading this thread, I may try LEDs instead of new fixtures with CFLs.

TD
Hellrazor
Bah Humbug
join:2002-02-02
Abyss, PA

Hellrazor to aurgathor

Member

to aurgathor
Low mercury is the issue. Mercury needs to get excited to work. You must live a boring life and it was having issues...

aurgathor
join:2002-12-01
Lynnwood, WA

aurgathor

Member

I know how to excite certain things, but I haven't tried my skills on mercury yet. However, I'm afraid I may not have enough potential to do that....