Compact Fluorescent Lamps.


Compact fluorescent lamps are one of the areas which have made very significant progress in the last twenty or so years.  Fluorescent lighting has been around for many, many years - having made their first appearance at the World's Fair in New York in 1938 - but they've always been too big and often ugly for use around the general home.  Aside from in garages, some larger kitchens, and occasionally for applications like lighting under shelves and things where the fixtures could be concealed.  Philips however attacked this problem head on, culminating with the launch of the SL*18 lamp in 1984.  This was a phenomenal breakthrough, being the worlds first commercially available fluorescent lamp which you could buy and fit into any normal lamp holder.  It was not without its drawbacks however; it was heavy (Over 500 grams), far larger than conventional bulbs, and had an unacceptably long five minute run up time.  Things however have come a long, long way since that first lamp.  Though it still deserves a very, very big salute from all lighting enthusiasts, as it was the first lamp of its kind.

Despite their somewhat odd and rather futuristic appearance, the technology behind a compact fluorescent lamp isn't anything particularly new - albeit somewhat shrunken compared to what it's based on.  Essentially it's just a fluorescent tube of a relatively narrow diameter, twisted into such a shape that the largest amount of tube can be fitted into the smallest area.  Usually the tube is attached to a ballast module at the base, and equipped with a normal BC or ES cap, so that it can be fitted straight into a normal lamp socket.

In some cases, the tube and ballast unit may be designed to be separated, usually so that the tube can be replaced independently of the ballast.  This design appears to have started to become more rare, mainly due to the fact that cheap electronic ballasts have become the norm, and that tube life has been stretched so much further - the Philips SL*18 had a rated life of 5000 hours for example, whereas the Osram Dulux EL lamps I've been using a lot lately state 15'000 hours on the box - often with the tube these days outlasting the ballast.  The separate ballast/tube assemblies do still exist though, but they're less common as a retrofit now mainly intended for new installations.  Philips PL*S and Sylvania's Lynx series are probably the best known of these modern "non retrofit" compact fluorescent lamps.


Connect-IT ES15730 30W Low Energy Lamp  Connect-IT ES15730 30W Low Energy Lamp
   
Deren 2U 20W 6400K  Deren 2U 20W 6400K
   
General Electric BIAX Electronic FLE15TBX/XM/840  General Electric BIAX Electronic FLE15TBX/XM/840
   
General Electric Elegance 11W  General Electric Elegance 11W
   
General Electric Energy Saving Elegance FLE20HLX/T3/827/B22-6Y-GE  General Electric Energy Saving Elegance FLE20HLX/T3/827/B22-6Y-GE
   
Impact Color Spiral 15W Blue  Impact Color Spiral 15W Blue
   
Impact Color Spiral 15W Green  Impact Color Spiral 15W Green
   
Impact Color Spiral 15W Red  Impact Color Spiral 15W Red
   
Impact Color Spiral 15W Yellow  Impact Color Spiral 15W Yellow
   
Luxina Helix SCR-11W Red Coloured Lamp  Luxina Helix SCR-11W Red Coloured Lamp
   
Marathon Electronic 11W/827  Marathon Electronic 11W/827
   
Megaman Clusterlite 1060i 60W Warm White  Megaman Clusterlite 1060i 60W Warm White
   
Megaman Compact 2000 11W Warm White  Megaman Compact 2000 11W Warm White
   
Megaman DorS 11W Dimmable Energy-Saving Lamp  Megaman DorS 11W Dimmable Energy-Saving Lamp
   
Mercury 15W 2700K  Mercury 15W 2700K
   
Morrisons R80 Style 11W Reflector  Morrisons R80 Style 11W Reflector
   
Omicron SYE-11 Compact Fluorescent "Blacklight" 15W  Omicron SYE-11 Compact Fluorescent "Blacklight" 15W
   
Osram Dulux EL 5W  Osram Dulux EL 5W
   
Osram Dulux EL 15W Reflector "Lumilux Interna"  Osram Dulux EL 15W Reflector "Lumilux Interna"
   
Osram Dulux EL 20W  Osram Dulux EL 20W
   
Osram Dulux EL 23W Vario  Osram Dulux EL 23W Vario
   
Osram Dulux S 9W/67 Blue  Osram Dulux S 9W/67 Blue
   
Osram Dulux S 9W/83 Green Osram Dulux S 9W/83 Green
   
Osram Dulux S 9W/60 Red  Osram Dulux S 9W/60 Red
   
Panasonic EFG15E50R  Panasonic EFG15E50R
   
Philips 2 in 1 Hybrid Compact Fluorescent and LED Nightlight  Philips 2 in 1 Hybrid Compact Fluorescent and LED Nightlight
   
Philips PL-C 10W 827/2P  Philips PL-C 10W 827/2P
   
Philips PL E*T Pro 23W  Philips PL E*T Pro 23W
   
Philips SL*9 Prismatic  Philips SL*9 Prismatic
   
Philips SL*18 First Generation Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp  Philips SL*18 First Generation Integral Compact Fluorescent Lamp
   
Plumen 001  Plumen 001
   
PowerPlus Enterprises 9W Energy Saving Bulb  PowerPlus Enterprises 9W Energy Saving Bulb
   
Prolite Daylite Helix 11W Blue Coloured Lamp  Prolite Daylite Helix 11W Blue Coloured Lamp
   
Pro-Lite SCR 18W Coloured Lamp  Pro-Lite SCR 18W Coloured Lamp
   
SaverLamp "Super Spiral" 85W 2700K  SaverLamp "Super Spiral" 85W 2700K
   
Sylvania Mini-Lynx Pastel 11W Apricot  Sylvania Mini-Lynx Pastel 11W Apricot
   
Sylvania Mini-Lynx Pastel 15W Rose  Sylvania Mini-Lynx Pastel 15W Rose
   
Tesco Value FLE11TBX/XM/GLS/827/B22/TESCO/1  Tesco Value FLE11TBX/XM/GLS/827/B22/TESCO/1

Page last updated:

20th June 2023: Minor changes to background page code to improve search engine performance.


Back to the Lighting Technology Index Page

Back to Website Index Page