Compact florescent light bulb ballast reuse

[wa2ise]

You've all seen those light bulb substitutes, compact florescent lights with the spiral. I had a "100 watt" one die, and decided to see what I could do with the electronic ballast part of it. Busted off the spiral (careful of the shrads of glass and other nasty stuff in it) and pried the plastic case of the electronic ballast. And saw where the spiral's two filaments connected to on the board. Now, as the thing is rated for 23W, I figured that it might drive a regular 22W circuline florescent bulb. After finding the appropriate connector for that kind of bulb, connected it up as like the old spiral was connected, and it works! I then found a metal strap holder designed to hold circuline lamps, attached it to the electronic ballast's plastic housing, ran the wires to the lamp connector out the holes that the old spiral was in, and thus now ready for use.

I also found that a "60 watt" ballast can drive the smaller and thinner 15W florescent tubes, the ones found in desk lamps.

[Pano]

Nice recycle!

Does seem a shame to throw all that stuff out.

[djQUAN]

most, if not all CCFL's in this side of the world fail because of blown electronic ballasts. the toobs still work.

makes a good source for ferrite cores for small SMPS's or inductors though.

[theAnonymous1]

Originally posted by djQUAN
most, if not all CCFL's in this side of the world fail because of blown electronic ballasts. the toobs still work.

makes a good source for ferrite cores for small SMPS's or inductors though.

I had one in the bathroom that let out some magic smoke a couple weeks ago. I opened it up and a couple transistors were cracked and the PCB blackened around them. Kind of scary now that I think about it. Maybe they don't like humidity.

[wa2ise]

Originally posted by theAnonymous1


I had one in the bathroom that let out some magic smoke ... Maybe they don't like humidity.

I decided to use regular light bulbs in the bathroom, as their heat would warm the fixtures they're in, to avoid condensation from the humidity (from the shower) from making the fixtures rusty.

[OzMikeH]

they may use less electricity, but how much energy is required to make the damn things?
to refine the materials and make the semiconductors, the circuit board, the phosphor, the mercury, capacitors, the fancy plastic blister packaging...
then the cost of recycling all of these materials that a standard filament bulb doesnt have?

I think if you do the numbers the simple filament bulb is more environmentally responsible.

[Pjotr]

Originally posted by djQUAN
most, if not all CCFL's in this side of the world fail because of blown electronic ballasts. the toobs still work.

Don’t worry, they do at this side of the world too …

[bob_v5]

"they may use less electricity, but how much energy is required to make the damn things?
to refine the materials and make the semiconductors, the circuit board, the phosphor, the mercury, capacitors, the fancy plastic blister packaging...
then the cost of recycling all of these materials that a standard filament bulb doesnt have?"

sorry, dont know how you guys get the quotes int the boxes.....
anyway, you might wanna read this.
http://sound.westhost.com/articles/incandescent.htm
Stuff about how bad (in this guys opinion at least) the mini tubes are.

[DigitalJunkie]

Originally posted by djQUAN
most, if not all CCFL's in this side of the world fail because of blown electronic ballasts. the toobs still work.

makes a good source for ferrite cores for small SMPS's or inductors though.

IME,it's usually the ballast that dies, (specifically,the filter cap -it overheats,bulges and leaks/explodes!)
I've got a small box of dead CFL's.. from 15 to 45W equiv. They *ALL* died from overheated/leaking capacitors. It usually takes out the fuse too.

Heat buildup seems to be the biggest killer of CFL's..Mounting them "upside down" (ballast above tube) only makes it worse.

[tjl]

They *ALL* died from overheated/leaking capacitors. It usually takes out the fuse too.

Heat buildup seems to be the biggest killer of CFL's..Mounting them "upside down" (ballast above tube) only makes it worse.
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you point out the most important problems are overheat and capacitor leakage !

Most of these Fluorescent lamps and it built in electronics ballastor are made from asia countries, saling price affect the quality.

as < 27 watts desk lamp or 2U lamps for example, for the costdown reason they substitute original designed 2 pieces MJE 13007 power transistor by a smaller MJE13003 power transistor, and without any heatsink for thermo dissipation use.

The MJE13003 can withstand 40 W maximun power, it seems ok, but it 's saturation turn on resistance are much higher than 13007, then overheating combine with Mounting them "upside down" (ballast above tube) will accmulate more heat, turn to thermo breakdown , damage the power transistor.

Some kind of ballastor use MOSFET like IRF640 series to reduce turn on resistance Rds, and MOSFET have less thermo breakdown problems!

Best Regards

The high voltage filter capacitors are also temperature sensitive component will leak or damage by overheat.