So recently, the CFL used in the showerlight has failed.
It's a fantastic CFL with a great CRI. Color temp not too high, not too low. It's not listed, but I'd estimate around 4200-4500K.
The shower light fixture itself is NOT approved for bathroom/shower use and is a standard recessed potlight. Exposed to a couple showers a day, this thing has been in service for nearly TEN years! It's been been on for most of the day, guaranteed over 8hrs, commonly 12+hrs/day.
Not long ago, it began randomly flickering. Thinking it's on it's last legs, a cap is bad or whatever, wasn't worrying much about it. Then it died. And then I cracked open the ballast case to inspect (Thanks Quest for getting me started on CFL repair lol)
All of the components looked fine, but the problem became apparent. The high voltage leads going to the tube, had simply corroded off from out of the tube, leaving no course of repair.
I tried other common, modern CFLs and they weren't the same. Colour temp is way high, bulb too short falling out of the reflector.
Anyway, today I came across a stash of old CFLs and found a match for my beloved original shower light! This time proactive measures were taken. I cracked the ballast open and sealed/encased the high voltage tube conductors, closed it up again and installed. Think this one will go for 9+ more years?
It's a fantastic CFL with a great CRI. Color temp not too high, not too low. It's not listed, but I'd estimate around 4200-4500K.
The shower light fixture itself is NOT approved for bathroom/shower use and is a standard recessed potlight. Exposed to a couple showers a day, this thing has been in service for nearly TEN years! It's been been on for most of the day, guaranteed over 8hrs, commonly 12+hrs/day.
Not long ago, it began randomly flickering. Thinking it's on it's last legs, a cap is bad or whatever, wasn't worrying much about it. Then it died. And then I cracked open the ballast case to inspect (Thanks Quest for getting me started on CFL repair lol)
All of the components looked fine, but the problem became apparent. The high voltage leads going to the tube, had simply corroded off from out of the tube, leaving no course of repair.
I tried other common, modern CFLs and they weren't the same. Colour temp is way high, bulb too short falling out of the reflector.
Anyway, today I came across a stash of old CFLs and found a match for my beloved original shower light! This time proactive measures were taken. I cracked the ballast open and sealed/encased the high voltage tube conductors, closed it up again and installed. Think this one will go for 9+ more years?