Originally Posted By: jrustles
Originally Posted By: Quest
@Shannow:
Most of the CFL fails due to film capacitors (dielectric or insulation breakdown due to cyclical heating); and also on higher powered CFLs: the 1st stage post-AC rectification stage of the filtering capacitor (electrolytic cap) is has the highest failure rate.
Almost 98% of all the CFLs I bought so far: this stage filtering capacitors are those inferior chinese made ones that failed so many computers some 8yrs then. I replaced mine with some seriously tried-n-true brands that really rated @105C and then go from there.
The ones that I re-capped with good quality lytic caps ones would now only fail due to film caps failure......
Also: as a second generation of electronics guy (family of engineers), I want to point out the false-science behind the rumours out there here in NA:
http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/files/lightbulbmercury.pdf
Q.
Good info about the TF caps, do you actually open the SMPS up and have you ever broken one of the glass tubes?
I thoroughly disagree with the Hg pacification piece though. It's only applicable to coal-derived electricity generation, and again implies that coal emissions can't be scrubbed. IMO installing little vials of
unregulated(Chinese made bulbs are very inconsistent in their Hg dosing) amounts of Hg all throughout one's house is immediately more dangerous.
Mercury vapour detection tools are rare as dodos among the consuming public. Mercury is no joke, unless of course, you fancy some nerve, IQ and brain damage.
@jrustles:
yes, I have taken apart those SMPS inside CFL bulbs before (and still doing so to all of the burnt CFL bulbs that I have before I send them off to proper CFL recycling facilities here.). I take them apart to investigate their failure modes, component/design safety margin, etc.
and yes, I have broken a few CFLs before. In fact: I broke my first 8Watt fluorscent table lamp tubes when I was twelve.
I know the dangers of mercury (don't come along and preach me on that....). But it's no fool that our insatiable demand for electricity (compounded with the bad tastes left in our mouths RE: Chenobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plant disasters, etc., high initial cost for solar and wind energy harvesting, etc.) US has been resorting to the cheep way of power generation: Coal firing plant. mercury emissions through coal burning has become a very serious matter---get into the rain (subsequently into the sea, aka "our biggest chemical/pollutant dump"), getting back into our soil, etc. fish high up the food chain such as tuna, shark, whales, etc. all have serious levels of mercury. Food grown from our soil is also laden with mercury...and the list goes on and on.
Granted: if I can make my CFLs lasts considerably longer than what they claimed to be (8 to 10 khrs @ 3hrs of usage each?ha!Wait til those mylar caps or the lytic caps pop and fail, then you'll realise that the lies within the component service life...typically between 600hrs to no more than 1.5khrs avg.)
I can save the environment by using less energy (less need on coal fired electricity generation), and reduction of mercury getting back into the ecosystem by means of making my CFL last much longer (providing much longer service life), and that will, in turn, reduce my disposal of arsenic, lead (well, most of the world's electronic stuff are now RoHS but not all of them), Cadmium, etc.
SMPS circuitry may deemed "noisy" in terms of RF interference noise but we aren't any better in the sense of already having all kinds of unnecessary RF stuff going on in our environment: examples: all SMPS based electronic devices: your TeeVee sets, computers, DVD players, cell phone AC wall outlet charger, internet wi-fi broadcasts/transmissions, cell phone communications, etc.
SMPS noise can be properly dealt with so long as the beancounter is not at play. Also: low-end LED bulbs and CFLs are definitely noisy because they saved 50cents on additional filtering components that would otherwise helps attenuate the RF interference noise emitted into AC line/atmosphere.
Q.
