Lamps blowing on timer switch

chrisw

katejo wrote: »

How are they 'dusk to dawn' without a timer?

Because they have a built in light sensor which turns them on when it's dark and off when it's light.

katejo

lstar337 wrote: »

Halogen and CFL are both low energy.

You need to move away from Watts = Light.

Newer bulb technology is better at turning Watts into usable light. A 28W halogen bulb is the same light output as your old 40W bulb, so it wont be dim, it'll be bright.

I have 7W CFL's and 4W LED's that are both brighter than than the 40W incandescent bulbs that came with my bed side lamps.

Save yourself some money and buy some bulbs with better efficiency.

But all the mechanical and digital timers are labelled as unsuitable for low energy bulbs .

Myser

katejo wrote: »

But all the mechanical and digital timers are labelled as unsuitable for low energy bulbs .

Not all.

Most of the TimeGuard range will work with CFL bulbs up to 100W or more for a couple of models:

http://www.timeguard.com/products/time/consumer-time-controllers

Mechanical ones shouldn't be a problem.

Cornucopia

katejo wrote: »

But all the mechanical and digital timers are labelled as unsuitable for low energy bulbs .

If that's true, there's been something of an over-reaction/misunderstanding by manufacturers.

All (electro-)mechanical timers (those with a rotary dial that has pins or segments) have a simple mechanical switch which operates in effectively the same way as a wall-switch. There should never be an issue with this type of timer and CFLs.

I have a number of electronic timers from different retailers/manufacturers and they all have relay switches in them (again, effectively the same as wall-switches). None of them have ever had any issues when used with CFLs, and no relay-switch should do. AFAIK most UK plug-in timers work in this way.

I've never come across a plug-in timer that has an electronic switch (triac) though it is technically possible. In this case, there is a potential incompatibility with CFLs. But running filament lamps for long periods on a timer is a waste of money and energy, so I wouldn't imagine a timer with that kind of restriction being very useful or saleable.

The easiest way to tell a relay-switch from an electronic one, is that there will be an audible click from a relay when it switches on, and an electronic switch will be silent.