Re use of burnt out CFL
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| Modified 20W CFL with Tube Light |
Case 1:
The electronic ballast
inside CFL may good, then you can replace the outer florescent tube with new
one easily available in the market. It depends upon the wattage of the CFL you
have.
You need the front cap in which the florescent tube glued with same cement like material. To reuse that cap you have to remove florescent tube which is sometimes easily loosens from glue and come out. If it is not then you have to break the glass tube, be very careful while breaking it because it contains hazardous mercury gas, so break it in open space away from your body especially from eyes. Take care.
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| Four terminal florescent tube |
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| Two terminal fluorescent tube |
9W & 11W florescent ‘U’
shaped bent tubes with four pins normally used for emergency lamps will be
suitable for your burnt out same wattage CFL’s even higher wattage CFL’s will
glow these wattage tubes. But these type of bent tubes cost (Rs. 80/-) bit more
compared to straight tubes (Rs.45/-).
With the same wattage there is one more type of same bent tube with two pins are available which have inbuilt starter which is used for the old type of conventional tube light circuit.
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| Two terminal tube with removed starter |
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| Terminals Extended and fixed with cap |
If you With the same wattage there is one more type of same bent tube with two pins are available which have inbuilt starter which is used for the old type of conventional tube light circuit. already have such a
type of tube you have to open the bottom end cap and remove the starter connected
in series with leads having some length. In this way you can have four leads
out as shown in fig. If you have 20W CFL then you can connect 18W or 20W
straight 2ft tube light worth Rs. 45/- which is cheaper than small wattage U
bent tubes. For 40W 4ft. regular use tube light set remove the conventional
type ballast and starter and use 40W or higher watt CFL ballast.
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| Final connected terminals to ballast |
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| Final connection |
Connect the four florescent tubes leads with electronic ballast as shown in fig. It should be such that the capacitor must be in series with two filaments. Normally indicated with numbers (1) (2) & (3) (4) in electronic ballast. For straight tube light use end holders for connection and use nylon transparent fishing wire for holding weight of tube with angle holder fixed on wall as shown in fig. [3] For neat look you can use 2ft. tube light frame.
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| Final 20W Light |
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| Final 11W & 18W CFLs |
Case 2:
Some
times the fluorescent filament may remain good and some of the electronic
components may be faulty, most of the time they blown off because of the high
voltage induced in the circuit. Some of the frequently blown out components
which I have found in the faulty CFL’s are as below. If you have thorough
knowledge of electronic ballast circuit you may understand it better.
There are mainly two type of circuits,
a)
Diac
used for initial start up.
b)
Capacitor
used for initial start up.
Faults may be like,
Faults may be like,
1)
Diac
may shorted
2)
Capacitor
in series in b/w two leads of florescent tube may shorted which is heavily
loaded during start up
3)
Main
transistors may shorted
4)
Bridge
rectifier diodes may shorted
5)
Resistor
connected between emitter of transistor and ground may burnt out
My intention of this post is to minimize the electronic disposal on earth because it is
house hold item and people normally throws it in the dust bin and save your
money as well as our nation’s resource.
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| Glowing Modified 18W CFL |
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| Glowing Modified 11W CFL |
