Reliability of integral ballast CFLs

[ITSME.ULTIMATE]

Anyone have some information or experience with integral ballast CFLs
(i.e. the kind you can buy at supermarkets and Home Depot) in larger
scale installations?

I have seen screw-in integral ballast CFLs used in commercial
installation as well and anywhere a large number of them is installed
should give some information on reliability.

I have had quite a few CFLs fail earlier than regular light bulbs, but I
have not had a single failure with an externally ballasted linear lamps.
I'm sure some go out prematurely, but it has never happened to me and
they have been way more reliable in my experience.

Do screw-in CFLs present a substantially higher failure rate than a
conventional fluorescent system in larger installations as well?

 

[Victor Roberts]

Anyone have some information or experience with integral ballast CFLs
(i.e. the kind you can buy at supermarkets and Home Depot) in larger
scale installations?

I have seen screw-in integral ballast CFLs used in commercial
installation as well and anywhere a large number of them is installed
should give some information on reliability.

I have had quite a few CFLs fail earlier than regular light bulbs, but I
have not had a single failure with an externally ballasted linear lamps.
I'm sure some go out prematurely, but it has never happened to me and
they have been way more reliable in my experience.

Do screw-in CFLs present a substantially higher failure rate than a
conventional fluorescent system in larger installations as well?

The quality and life of screw-base CFLs will vary by brand.
However, when a screw-base CFL is mounted base-up,
especially inside a recessed fixture, the ballast is subject
to temperatures far higher than those of almost any external
ballast. High temperature will shorten the life of any
electronic system. Therefore the ballasts in screw-base CFLs
mounted base-up will generally have shorter life than
properly designed and constructed external ballasts.

In my opinion, if you have a large commercial installation,
you should be using pin-base CFL's with high quality
external ballasts. The fixtures made for pin-base CFLs have
the proper optics for the CFL, while many screw-base CFLs
are used in fixtures designed for incandescent lamps.

--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
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