Dimmable CFLs - will these work with a DIN Dimmer ?

Hi
I s this available over in the UK yet, not seen one.

Regards
Mark

 

IRC halogens are manufactured by Osram, Philips (Master ES range) and GE have some too. Probably others out there as well, I'm not sure.

For the record, I don't work for a lamp manufacturer - I work in the Energy Efficiency market, so we simply choose whatever is the best solution. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no supplier who is best at everything

 

Just a minor note re the IRC lamps. They cannot currently be used in fire rated downlight fittings as they dont forward reflect heat. This causes damage to the cables inside the fitting and possible to the intumescent(sic?) layer.

Not sure it would matter if using firehoods, but then who does these days

 

IRC has nothing to do with them not being "dichroics" (which is the layer on the glass reflector).

The IRC technolgogy is on the actual "bulb" itself - it's a invisible coating that makes the INTERIOR of the bulb run hotter and be more efficient. In overall load, a 35W IRC lamp produces a LOT less heat than a 50W lamp.

You are correct regarding "enclosing" of dichroics of any kind. They are designed to radiate the heat up into free air in teh ceiling space, and there will be heaps of problems if you use them in a small enclosed space liek a fire-rated enclosure.

The solution is to use a IRC Bulb inside a downlight that uses a metal reflector. The metal reflector pumps the light down into the room and stops the overheating problem caused by dichroics.

Here is a link to a 35W IRC burner lamp :

http://www.svetila.com/eProdaja/product_info.php/cPath/66_91/products_id/4052

 

Interesting. I have been told directly from manufacturers that they will not support warranty claims on a fitting which has had the incorrect lamp type installed. On the other hand, if this is correct and there is no difference then the only fault will be a manufacturing one so how they gonna know?

 

It could be that the downlight is only suitable for use with NON-dichroic lamps, for example the "ALU" (Aluminium reflector) type MR16 lamps.

In this case, the use of a Dichroic reflector lamp of any form will cause problems, irrespective of whether it is IRC or not.

There is also the problem of the transformers too - an electronic transfomer will only be able to cope with 60 degree or so ambient temps, so you wouldn't want to have one of them stuffed inside the fire-rated box witha dichroic fixture.

 

Dimmable CFLs

Having trouble on a C-Bus installation trying to dim Pierlite Dot 110 dimmable CFL.Tech Support are looking at the problem but when switched off they continually flash trying to start up.Some of the suggestions so far include connecting various capacitors acroos the load on each dimmer channel and unloaded transformers connected across the load both to no avail.If I screw a normal lamp into one of the fittings the stray current is dissipated through the lamp when switched off and all lights on that channel ok.Anybody used these CFLs or has any other ideas.

Thanks