Low energy lightbulb strangeness…

The (new) energy saving lightbulb above the bed, which I put in a couple of days ago, ‘flashes’, very dimly, every couple of seconds or so, after switching it off. Noticed it last night and the night before when lying in bed looking up at the bulb.

It’s an incredibly dim flash, probaby only noticeable becuase the room is otherwise basically pitch black. It also isn’t the whole bulb, I think it’s just one end (it’s one of those twirly mini flourescent tube type bulbs):

Is this normal? I can’t say I’ve ever noticed anything like it before, but then I’ve probably never stared at a recently turned off twirly bulb in a darkened room before…

Some sort of ionising radiation nearby. Probably

Rachel

Aliens….

On a more serious note, do you leave near a TV / mobile phone mast?

Cat aids.

Failed dreams.

Has someone wired the rose up incorrectly so the negative is switched?

don’t worry It’s the NSA bugs in the en-suite interacting with it

Visual disturbances caused by some sort of brain abnormality?

We had this for hallway & landing lights that had twin switches top & bottom. Basically it’s the bulb presenting a load to the circuit and causing inductance in the cable, just enough to cause it to fire, which dissipates the charge & start it again.
We changed the bulb for a branded one and it stopped happening.

Has someone wired the rose up incorrectly so the negative is switched?

The negative? Your house has DC lighting?

Visual disturbances caused by some sort of brain abnormality?

good work 🙂

It’s a feature of CFLs, and it’s annoying (but only one of many annoying features).
They have a residual glow that glows for hours, and random flashes, which I always assumed was ionized particles.
Old CRT telly also glowed for hours.

Most of my 60W incandescent got replaced by 100W equivalent CFL to get anywhere near similar light, and as each one blew, I replaced with 35W halogens since CFL are awful.

We had this for hallway & landing lights that had twin switches top & bottom. Basically it’s the bulb presenting a load to the circuit and causing inductance in the cable, just enough to cause it to fire, which dissipates the charge & start it again.
We changed the bulb for a branded one and it stopped happening.

Sounds similar, the bulb is on a two way switch (one by door, one by bed)

It’s not a cheapo bulb though. It was from Waitrose 🙂

It’s not a cheapo bulb though. It was from Waitrose

Buying light bulbs from Waitrose? ….Some sort of brain abnormality? 😀

CFL are awful.

They might not be ideal, but LEDs are good.

Personally I put up with the extremely minor issues I’ve experienced to save energy.

PS mine were all branded. Osram or Philips iirc, and one Megaman (only got that since it fits the physical profile of a standard incandescent, as that’s all that would fit in the light fitting in the bog).

Have considered LED, and would go LED before ever buying another CFL.

CFLs use more power than they claim afaik. And are way dimmer than incandescent, again regardless of what they claim, even after incandescent/halogen were changed to use slightly less power than they always used to.

Best place for CFL imho, especially now that LED is acceptably usable, is in the bin (well preferably the hazardous waste recycling bin).

Try switching the light off from each switch – mine only does it when switched off from one switch, so I just use the other when I want it off. Minor inconvenience but it works

That’s the only lighting in your bedroom! We have a strip light with the tube replaced with an 18W 1700 lumen LED tube. And a bedside variable 3.5W LED. LEDs come on instantly, are full intensity immediately and produce lots of stable white light.

That’s how the government implants information into your brain. Delete this thread before they find out that you know what they are doing 😯

The Philips ones that the energy companies give away are bad for this.

Just use LEDs. They work well these days.