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Compact Fluorescent Flashing.

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My friend still has a collection of compact fluorescent lamps. He has a coiled glass style one in his outside light fitting. It is time switch controlled. It was working well until.....wait for it.............wait for it. Today as it was getting dark and before it had switched on, it was gently strobing dimly. It was regularly lighting dimly and then turning off etc. I suppose the frequency was about 3 Hertz.


Has this strobing anything to do with me connecting up his main earth terminal to the official previously unused U.K.P.N. P.M.E. earth terminal? (All main bonding is in place).


Or, did I just not notice this strange strobing before?


Z.
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    damp, or possibly capacitive coupling if the permanent live and switched live run parallel for some distance.

    CFLs  do this if very small currents can flow in, and over several hundred cycles, that charge up the electronics that strikes and then runs flat and starts again.

    If it is annoying, one fix is to put a small C, about 100nF is enough, across the load, to make the voltage division such that it never reaches striking voltage.

    I also have had to do this for a boiler with a very meandering control circuit, that used to half heartedly fire its far too sensitive electronic ignition even when the thermostat said it should not.

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  • 0
    damp, or possibly capacitive coupling if the permanent live and switched live run parallel for some distance.

    CFLs  do this if very small currents can flow in, and over several hundred cycles, that charge up the electronics that strikes and then runs flat and starts again.

    If it is annoying, one fix is to put a small C, about 100nF is enough, across the load, to make the voltage division such that it never reaches striking voltage.

    I also have had to do this for a boiler with a very meandering control circuit, that used to half heartedly fire its far too sensitive electronic ignition even when the thermostat said it should not.

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