Noticed that issue also, the newer ones die very quickly compared to older ones. If they are going to use such poor quality, then they should just sell incandescent lights. It is less harmful to the environment to use a little extra power, then to constantly throw out poor quality compact florescent lamps. which take more resources to make and have a high pollution level during the manufacturing process (while also using poisonous chemicals).

@dumle29

9 жыл бұрын

Razor2048 "a little extra power" 9W vs 40W = 444% power of the 9w (or 344% more power)

@Razor2048

9 жыл бұрын

The issue is determining the pollution and environmental impact of each device. With the CFL, you are working with many less common and highly toxic compounds, much of which will be impractical to recycle. If these lights lasted longer, then there would be a benefit to using them, but with most of them not even lasting longer than the incandescent lights, they are overall more harmful to the environment over the life of the product.

I'm glad you did this video as I have been cracking these buggers open since they first hit the market. My first CFLs had magnetic ballasts built into the base! The next generation of bulbs had electronic ballasts lasted a lot longer and I was able to repair several of them by replacing caps or (if they were the same model) by swapping bulbs and ballasts around. Incidentally, I paid no more than $5 for them because our local power company had a generous rebate program.

I wish that I still had the older (late 80's) CFL bulbs around for comparison. Those were a single large ring, and had an annoying 'defect' in which they would not light-up in total darkness (but would light instantly late in the evening/early morning). Used to focus a bright flashlight on each one to relight them after a power failure, like they were electonic candles.

Almost the same in Europe.(Except they never used voltage doubler because we have 230 V nomial voltage). I took a look inside an older Philips PL Electronic-C 9W CFL and it has a half bridge with 2 capacitors and a chip to drive the transistors. Newer CFLs have a single capacitor in the half bridge circuit and a feedback toroidal transformer for the oscillator. The newer Philips CFLs advertise 6 years or 10000 hours lifetime. I still like them more than cheap chinese LEDs which last 2 or 3 years, maybe 4 and some of them have a 100 Hz flicker which CFLs didn't have. Sometimes a CFL with a broken cathode can be repaired by shorting the cathode or bypassing it with a resistor.

I have some old magnetic ballasts for CFL lamps that have done 20 years of operation, with no issues. Replaceable lamps as well help a lot, as then you only replace a cheaper PL lamp instead of throwing the lot away. Electronic ballasts almost always fail from the electronics burning out than from the lamp dying, though the cheap and nasty lamp used degrades so fast the point is moot. I have old carbon filament lamps that likely will outlive me.

I've noticed if you have a CFL in an upright, open fixture, it lasts a lot longer than if it is hanging down, or in an enclosed fixture. The CFL in my bedroom lamp has lasted 5 years and still works, while the ones enclosed in the hallway and hanging in the dining room have been replaced at least twice since we began replacing incandescents with them. Also one of the stairway CFL's I have is beginning to flicker, I'm worried its time is coming to an end. Now as the bulbs burn out, I am replacing them with LEDs, since those actually look promising.

@wojciechtechtips1602

4 жыл бұрын

Does it still work

Hey there... the Philips lamp was made June 1999 in Juarez, Mexico. The Philips ones last typically 11-13 years, even in regular use. The Philips one is what you'd call "programmed start", the generic one "instant start", and Greenlite "electronic rapid start."

The Philips lamp was made in June of 1999 (the 9F is the date code; the number is the ones digit of the year and the letter is the month (A to M except I for January to December); the number is first in odd decades and the letter is first in even decades). I have some early 1990s Osram CFLs made in their now closed Maybrook, NY lamp plant that use a similar topology to modern helicrap ballasts (like a Royer oscillator but with a separate base drive transformer), but they use much higher quality components and as such are far more reliable. All 5 of mine work and a neighbor has 2 more that have been in regular use for close to 20 years.

The GE Helical 20w CFLs (model #FLE20HT3/2/XL/SW) last quite a long time. Mine lasted 5 years on about 10 hours a day.

Found similar results. There are some compact fluorescents that were used since 1990. These featured a copper/ iron ballst and classic starten, built in large "marmalade style" jar on a screw base. These we used in outdoor lighting at the garage, and they do still work, even though the fixture is in all weather conditions. Others were made by Philips, sold under the "Stella" tradename. ("Made in EU") These I bought in 1995, and they were installed into the staircase lights, so it was common to turn them on a couple of times per day, for just short moments. MOst of them, I bought around 20 at the time, still work. The inverter uses the same IC like the Philips in video, the tubes are durably built. The base and inverter stays lukewarm during operation. On my desk, I used a spiral "daylite" variant, also of Philips brand, called Genie super saving daylite, that worked for two years at max. It is not on all day. Similar to the one in your video. It failed two days ago. I always noticed, it became very hot, and the temperature did not match a stated consumption of 18 Watts. When it failed it started to flicker, ending up at a super hot lamp glass temperature. The glass finally cracked. I tore it apart, the inverter is the same like yours with the Dishi cap in the video. There are green Hitachi style capacitors, which turned brown over time. Finally the one between the filament burnt out, keeping the current flow at very high values. Most CFL are not long lasting, taking pollution and resource use into consideration, it is a total loss over tungsten bulbs. I replaced the desk lamp with a 4000K LED, and at 10W this has quite bright light output, the base/ inverter stays cool, as expected. I'm curious how long this PRC device will last. I used a some, which went quite fast, failure was the fusing resistor. Driven at 120 V, these tended to stay, but with my home supply being 242/420 Volts EU, the inrush current was too high, and finally cancelled the fusing resistor. Asking for warranty, the seller replied "You can't expect the same level of quality, as a Toshiba built bulb. Ours sell cheaper". Well, Toshiba's were just 10% extra... as the internal construction was actually quite nice, I expect, someone relabeled 120V bulbs with (the inverter can take it) 100 - 240 V AC.

I always look forward to your videos.. thanks again ...

I got 1 to 2 years out of a 13 w cfl and poof! it burnt out yesterday (10/6/17) :( I agree I wish they would last at least 8 to 10 years.

Later versions of the philips bulb have a smaller square base, I have one still

My primary qualm with CFL is, as you pointed out, the cheap Chinese manufacturing of something that I'm likely to leave on for long periods of time, including unattended. I've had some of these things make me nervous as they approach end of life and start misbehaving.

@GGigabiteM

9 жыл бұрын

FyberOptic The Chinese spiral CFLs are indeed dangerous. I've had a bunch of them nearly catch on fire near the end of their life. I discovered one by chance where I'd turn it on and the CFL would turn off and on every few seconds. I pulled it out of the socket to discover the ballast plastic housing had partially melted and several parts on the ballast board had gotten so hot that the PCB was burned completely through and the part was basically dust. How it even kept running for just a few seconds was baffling.

@38911bytefree

7 жыл бұрын

I agree, at one time, one exploded at home. As you said, as soon as I note something unusual I take the lamp out of the socket.

@GGigabiteM

7 жыл бұрын

38911bytefree LED bulbs are so cheap now that I've gone around and replaced nearly all of the CFL bulbs in my house. Home Depot has specials on them every other week 2 for $5. Most of the bulbs I pulled out have had the plastic base around the ballast turn dark brown from overheating severely, so it was time for them to go anyway. So far I've only had one LED bulb fail because of a bad power board. The LED module still worked so I rewired it to run on 15v instead of 70v.

I like the older Preheat PL bulbs and adapters from a bit further back in time where the PL fluorescent adapters contain a slightly heavy wire wound magnetic choke ballast! Now those types of fluorescent ballasts lasted a long time!

Please finish the air liquefier! It was my favorite project.....

Do they have a voltage doubling circuit in bulbs meant for 240V like ours since the voltage is already double your voltage? They still don't last very long either way -_- They seem to fail from heat because the plastic is always discoloured near the fitting.

Wow, good find and good evidence that one acatually should stay away from today's CFL lamps.

I got a 100W 9000lumen LED including a 85-265V constant current driver for US$23.99 inc shipping on aliexpress a few months back. Got it running as my lab lighting. Damn it's bright :P The PSU says IP65 and it's potted so i cant have a look to see how bad the construction is. Seller was lenbo lighting if you want to have a play with one. Be prepared for rock hard shadows unless you put a diffuser on it. Oh, and be sure to warn visitors to NOT look at it, without a diffuser that much point source light is really painful and you see a spot for hours.

My parents have some OLD Panasonic capsule style CLF's (that have a full frosted glass envelope/globe over the outside) that they've been using since the late 80's... As is commonly said anymore, they don't make stuff like they used to...

I used to be able to buy a 6 pack box of GE 23 Watt CFLs (100 Watt Equivalent) for around $20 US dollars... Now I go to the same stores and they have ONE 23 Watt CFL going for about $12 US dollars.... I have taken the older and newer ones apart and aside from some component down sizing and price reductions, they are the same product with the same lifetime... As time goes on, CFL's become less reliable, cheaper to manufacture and more expensive to purchase... It seems retailers are using them as a profit cow now that Incandescent are banned.

What do you think about induction bulbs?

we're evolving.... but backwards

Very cool teardown! I had been wondering why the new CFLs were absolute garbage. I'd switched back to incandescents for certain applications because I was changing CFLs so frequently. Fortunately the LEDs are coming down in price and are starting to go up around the house. Would you say that either design is more likely to be noisier in RF emission? I'm assuming they are oscillating at mains or some harmonic under a couple of kHz, so maybe fairly low noise?

Thank you Great video I like scrapping these lamps they are full of great parts to build other stuff with, the down side of them is they have Mercury in the tubes so need disposing carefully I have been using led lamps for about ten years and some need replacing now, so the life expectancy is looking to be about the same as the large Philips Will you be doing a video about Led lamps in the future ?

Wow your a genius!

The Philips lamp with the 9F date code was made in 1999.

I would like to Import CFL Lights so kindly suggest a suitable scheme

I think the new ones are more efficient than the old ones like that though. I have a 15w philips lamp like that and it gets quite hot and doesnt make a lot of light for its wattage, vs the 14w cfls that are brighter and cooler

Any progress on liquefying air?

Thank you for a good insight of how stupidly shitty CFL's are made today. I have the same experience, i sometimes see "original" 1'st-gen CFL's still in use, but modern ones usually don't last more than a year. It's a pity that it's not about being eco-friendly any more - it's just about profit!

Any danger using these 'new style construction' lamps? I have heard reports of property damage due to the device smoldering. I could easily see this happening given how all those cheap components are crammed in a small sealed space.

That style of philips tube was sold over here in europe with a square shaped base as ecotone or energy saver stick from what I remember of them. LED's are great but rather expensive but as long as you buy the well known brands they last longer than CFL's

@exoticcar5482

3 жыл бұрын

LEDs have now become much more affordable ever since

I have many cheap (2 pack ~$5) indoor floods that have been running over ~4 years. Haven't had one die yet. Granted I believe they might have been GE but for the price they have well outlived their cost.

I never realized all that was in there...Having broken open only incandescents before.

great video,but if all the cfl last for 12 years they would have closed the factory,and thats the reason cfl's nowadays only last up to 2 year,so you buy more and they will be able to keep making money

@msaad42

8 жыл бұрын

absolutely right . I think the chip has a timer to malfunction the cfl because three or four of my cfls (some of which were bought together) died almost with in a period of one week after working for 2 or so years just after the warranty period was over

I would take a 85c Rubicon over 105c crappy cheap cap.

Thumbs up :) Alex

There is no reason to buy these now since the cost of LED bulbs have come way down. I have had several CFLs fail somewhat violently, a couple made a loud pop and blew their transistors and one blew its filter cap and smoked up the room.

No kidding. I have no idea what it is, but I have a CFL in my hall that's probably been going strong for 15 years. The cheap CFLs are not even worth it, they burn out almost as fast as incandescent bulb (and in some fixtures, even faster). I guess the lesson there is "don't buy cheap CFLs." It would be interesting to see a teardown of modern cheap CFLs vs high quality CFLs.

How the hell do you get 12 years out of a CFL? I use mostly Phillips in my house and I don't think I ever get more than 2 years out of one.

@kageotaku

10 жыл бұрын

Did you watch the video?

@38911bytefree

7 жыл бұрын

I got 5 five years out of a CFL using it 6 to 7 seven hrs EVERY single day. I kept the lamp as a "record", because those are garbage, wont last a year, sometimes even explode ... puff moved to LED and counting the hrs ....

The technologies obviously there to make lamps that last a hundred years or more, there's a fire station in America that has a 100 year old incandescent lamp still working. I wonder how long it will take before LED lamps can only last a 1000hours? There is an interesting video on KZread called the light bulb conspiracy.

@IAdryan

10 жыл бұрын

My last 3Watt LED lamp burned after 3 months of aprox. 1 hour/day of working. For it's price i would have 2 years of incandescent light... The light was nice though.

@DjResR

9 жыл бұрын

It's all about the filament temperature, put two GLS bulbs (not halogen) in series and it last 30 years minimum.

@dumle29

9 жыл бұрын

IAdryan Did you buy cheap? Because that's what it sounds like to me. And you should be under warranty btw.

@IAdryan

9 жыл бұрын

dumle29 Yeah, cheap. And the transport was more expensive than the light bulb. I've bought the light bulb with other stuff. Just curious.

Using LED's in place of the halogen down lamps in my room. not going to touch modern CFL's from now on

Ive had quite a few of the newer style ones fail right out of the box, And I have notices in the past 10-15 years alot of build quality has dropped, I have the feeling its because society has become rather a throw away society so the faster an item breaks the more money companies can rip off from people.

Because they don't make money if they lasted like the old UK Phillips type !

rip cfl

@remih-videosmusiques8934

6 жыл бұрын

led :( pfff!

It is simple you don't need your money as much they a new yacht .

Difference between a European designed Phillips and a Chinese designed generic crappy brand of CFL. You get what you pay for. The chinese ones are dangerous and a 9w one I bought started making arcing noises after only a few months.

#CFL lamps are too expensive, contain the chemical #mercury, NOT environmentally friendly and therefore are BAD for public health. Also they don't last as long as advertised, many have exploded and caught fire. Your are better off with old style incandescent lamps. They are a massive rip-off in my opinion, but excellent breakdown video.