CF dimmable lamps - Globe brand

[Gymmy Bob]

Anybody have experience with these new 26W compact fluorescents that are
supposed to be dimmable?

I purchased one today, ran home and stuck it on my X10 wall dimmer only to
find it doesn't dim until the incandescent almost goes out. Then it flickers
annoyingly until it extinguishes.

What a rip. The damn thing cost me $14+

 

[Steve]

One made by Phillips did work in a standard triac dimmer, found then at Home
Depot but I have not looked for them lately.

 

[Gymmy Bob]

The ballast is self contained in the bulb. I have no access to any of it's
parameters.

The information that came in the package mentioned nothing about anything.
It was only stated "dimmable" on the package it came in. This is a medium
base unit with internal ballast.

 

[pike]

Anyone ever notice that you can dim any old CF lamp with any old dimmer to
about half the normal output before it shuts down? It has to be saving
energy since the current must be dropping along with the voltage. I'll have
to get myself one of those Kill-a-watt meters and hope it measures down to 7
watts.

 

[Gene S. Berkowitz]

Anyone ever notice that you can dim any old CF lamp with any old dimmer to
about half the normal output before it shuts down? It has to be saving
energy since the current must be dropping along with the voltage. I'll have
to get myself one of those Kill-a-watt meters and hope it measures down to 7
watts.

Not necessarily. The CF ballast, which is more akin to a high-frequency
switching power supply, may be dropping in efficiency, dumping heat
instead.

--Gene

 

[Richard P.]

I worked at a store that sells that brand. I haven't any personal experience with them, but when I
asked for customer feedback on the few that we have sold, there have been no complaints about it and
that they worked fine. The only complaint I have had is their physical size.

 

[J Baber]

Anybody have experience with these new 26W compact fluorescents that are
supposed to be dimmable?

I purchased one today, ran home and stuck it on my X10 wall dimmer only to
find it doesn't dim until the incandescent almost goes out. Then it flickers
annoyingly until it extinguishes.

Jim Baber's comments:
I have to agree for the first time with Gymmy Bob, they do appear to
flicker very slightly at their lowest settings. However, they do serve
a need for me. I have pre-existing dimmers (not automated) that are part
of my ceiling fans and dining room (4 with 2 bulbs each) that really do
work as far as beimg dimmable.
This was important to me because there is a large saving there of
about 384 W by using the CFL lights. My remote controls for the fans
(radio) are really messed up by being turned on and off with wall
switche since they lose their frequency settings and will hunt for the
next signal's frequency they get when they are next turned on. (this
means they lose track of which controller a given fan is controlled by)
The X10 style of triac dimmer I have on these CFL lights help since
the radio receivers actually work better if they are not turned
completly off, and the triac style dimmers do not completely turn off.
Which is a problem for most CFL lights in dimmers but helps here.

 

[Gymmie Bob]

A better idea is just wait until the sun comes up to read and don't turn on
the lights at all! (sarc)

or

Wire up your wall with 5-10 different lamp fixtures, all with different CF
wattages and a few incandescents for real colour lighting, and just select
the level of lighting you want from the array of switches.