Re:The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy
by klondike_ on Monday March 05, 2018 @10:20PM
(#16526621)
This has to do with the starter mechanism. All florescent tubes need a starter, including CFLs. Industrial/commercial florescent lights take a few seconds to warm up, often with some flickering. For home use people want their light bulbs to start up fast, so manufacturers put quicker starters in CFLs at the expense of longevity.
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Re:The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy
by blattimwind on Tuesday March 06, 2018 @04:13AM
(#16527774)
Your information is out of date by a few decades or so.
Ballast + starter is completely outdated and the only reason you still see them is in places where they don't care about energy costs and because hardware stores still sell them (along all the other junk products found in hardware stores) — they are marginally cheaper.
Combine a fluorescent tube with a hot-start electronic ballast and you get lights that are cheaper than LEDs with similar efficiency and light quality (depending on the tubes), but lower eco-footprint and lower running costs (tubes are ~1-1.5 € each). Electronic ballasts are extremely reliable and have been on the market long enough to back such claims up.
Hot-start EVG doesn't turn on quite as fast as LEDs; they take about 0.5 seconds. They never flicker.