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Re: Compact fluorescent lamp life



Bon wrote:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...but I was of the belief that new
fluorescent bulbs have a break in curve where the initial light output
is
higher for a certain period of time ( don't remember what the time is)
until
they "break in". There was a study I read about that measured the lumens
of
new bulbs VS bulbs that had run for a while and showed a fairly high
break
in curve for so  many hours where the bulbs actually measure higher than
their specs then they settle down to the specked light output. I have
noticed this myself with my CF's on my tank and it's noticeable ( I
broke a
pin removing a bulb once and had to replace it). Maybe someone out there
can
point us to some technical info on this.
Relaxing in CT,
Bob Buettner
http://www.home.cshore.com/luna/Fishpics/Fishpicstn.html



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I reply:

Normally the initial lumens given for a lamp are measured after a 100
hour breakin period. Many lamp manufacturers also publish lumen
maintenance curves and lamp mortality curves for their lamps. I never
had any luck luck finding such data for those Panasonic lamps. A clue to
their performance though is that they are very long for T5 tubes and
they are being driven at very high wattages for their size. Generally
this would mean that they won't last very long or maintain lumens very
well other VHO lamps. Not suprising nobody is in any big rush to publish
the specs.

Wayne