Good verses bad compact fluorescent lights -- inside?

[larry moe 'n curly]

Has anybody looked at the electronics inside compact fluorescent lights
and found any differences between the good and bad brands?

I have some MaxLites that quit working after 6-24 months, and they all
have failed power transistors, but the big 200V, 22uF capacitor in the
middle seems OK, and there's a missing positive temp. coeff.
thermistor. The lamp attaches to the circuit board through wire wraps
with plain copper wire that's oxidized and loose.

 

[Andy Cuffe]

Has anybody looked at the electronics inside compact fluorescent lights
and found any differences between the good and bad brands?

It seems to be very hard to tell which ones last and which fail early.
I've replaced every bulb in my house with a CFL where they will fit.
Some of them are on 18 hours a day (24 hours outside).

Some of the more expensive GEs have been very reliable. Even way past
their expected life, they are still working, but are getting very dim.
Some cheaper spiral tube GEs had caps fail, but this was easy to
repair. Eventually the tubes failed when one of the heaters opened.
Surprisingly, I've yet to have a single $1 Ikea bulb fail in any way.
After more than 5000 hours, all 4 are still going strong.
Andy Cuffe

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