Tried converting a story from TIFU to greentext because I’m bored at work.
I saved a Gimp Template while working on it: https://files.catbox.moe/ipnjzk.xcf
Tried converting a story from TIFU to greentext because I’m bored at work.
I saved a Gimp Template while working on it: https://files.catbox.moe/ipnjzk.xcf
I was gonna say “CFLs just plug into a normal socket, those don’t generally just ‘go bad’”
The text is about a halogen bulb, though, not a CFL. Those generally use flanged prongs.
It still wouldn’t be dim, it would either work or not. If it’s dim, it’s either a bad bulb or a setting on the light housing causing less voltage (I think?) to make it to the bulb.
Aren’t you just describing dimmers, the topic of the post?
Exactly!
I’m saying the likelihood of the socket/housing causing a dim light is vanishingly small, so OP should have caught this 6 years ago if they had even a passing understanding of how lights work.
My immediate asumption without looking it up was either it’s not getting the right voltage or enough amperage since electricity is generally passed through to lights, so it would either work or not. So, either the bulb is bad (old lights get dim) or there’s a setting somewhere on the fan or switch messing with the voltage or current. My first guess is the bulb, and if two fail, I’d check the fan.
After a quick search, apparently dimmers are fancier than that, and they actually modify the signal instead of adjusting voltage or amperage. But my initial intuition wasn’t far off. The power is indeed on or off, and something else was interfering (the dimmer). If the fan didn’t have the capability to adjust brightness, there would be no reason to interfere with the signal.
Simple logical deduction based on a passing understanding of electricity and lights would’ve led to the problem.
it’s less that dimmers are fancier than you thought and more like adjusting voltage or amperage without ridiculous losses is hard and or significantly more expensive than you thought.
Dimmers are incredibly simple with just triac and a variable resistor. However LEDs and CFLs do not work well with triac dimmers since they normally are expecting full voltage. Thats why you need “dimmable bulbs” becsuse they have circuitry to account for different voltages.
Makes sense.
My point is that a little bit of deduction should lead someone to the conclusion that the dim light was an intentional feature going “wrong” or a bad bulb.
The integrated circuits in a lot of lighting fixtures (and you know OP’s light is run by integrated circuit because it can be controlled by remote) are basically a black box of complexity where things can go wrong in a non-intuitive way. Some kind of failure to deliver sufficient power to a particular bulb or LED or other element isn’t necessarily an indication of anything in particular.
I totally misread that.
I’m pretty sure he meant a CFL.
For exactly that reason.
Depends on the CFL. I had to replace one in a fixture in my new house a few months after I bought it, and it was some goofy round one with a rectangular attachment point and some clips. Thankfully it was pretty easy to replace and was easily gettable from Dom Depot, but I was definitely surprised by the socket when I went to replace it.
That sounds like one of those fixtures where the ballast is in the fixture and the bulb is just a bulb, similar to a regular fluorescent light fixture. As opposed to the screw-in CFLs that most people are familiar with where the bulb also contains the ballast.
Those are kind of unusual in homes - I’ve mostly seen them in commercial applications like hotels and stuff like that.
Worst case scenario just replace the light kit and check your wiring but yeah obviously that wasn’t OP’s issue
Of course doing that with the fan still together/hanging is much more of a pain than just getting a new one, usually, especially if the fan is old. Most other electricians I know don’t bother doing ceiling fan repairs, they’ll swap em but any more than that’s not worth their time. I’ll do whatever but I’ll be up front about it.
Especially since you’re usually doing it for retired folks who can only afford so much…