Hello,
This may be a stupid story leading to a stupid question, but I know just about nothing about electricity or lighting so am looking for a little help please.
We have a total of six lights (2 fittings x 3 bulbs each) running off one dimmer switch. Everything has worked fine for years, using various bulbs - some energy saving long lasting "CFLs", some not, different manufacturers at the same time, bulbs marked for different "watts" etc.
Today, I needed to replace one of the bulbs so I bought a couple of long lasting CFL bulbs, put one in and turned the lights on only to find some of the six bulbs were now flickering (not on and off, just flickering like someone was tweaking the power going into them ever so slightly... more like something you would see in a night club perhaps). Not all bulbs flickered, not all that flickered are on the same light fitting & all flickering bulbs are not from the same manufacturer. As far as I can see they had nothing in common.
I tried removing the bulb I had just bought and put in another (having bought a spare), but the same thing happened. The bulbs I bought were identical & made by Phillips, which I would have considered a good make (and some, while not all, of the existing bulbs are also made by Philips although are different in design or style).
I then went to another shop and purchased an alternative brand ("Osram"), again long life low energy CFLs. Having tried a couple of these, the same problem occured.
Then I went and bought a Solus manufactured bulb (not long life CFLs and with a poor energy rating compared to the others), fitted it into the set of six & hey presto, the flickering has stopped ! This Solas bulb is the only bulb of it's type and the only bulb from this manufacturer in the set of six bulbs, all of which run off the same dimmer switch. Five of the six bulbs are now CFLs, with this being the only bulb which is not.
All bulbs are the same size and fitting (E14/SES). Electric Ireland provide the electricty to the house. We are not experiencing this problem in any other room in the house (although I've not tried switching all of the light bulbs out of one room, into another), there is no significant weather issues and we're getting out electricity from Electric Ireland in a well established, mature residential Dublin city suborb.
Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this flickering problem and how I can prevent it ?
The flickering lights are terrible on the eyes, even if only for a few seconds. While it's now stopped, I'd like to be able to use any combination of bulbs, just as I have done for years and more importantly, use long life low energy bulbs in all six lights.
Any help would be much appreciated.
... and yes, it has already occured to me that I just should have bought Irish in the first instance, regrdless of long life or energy rating (Solus are an Irish company, whereas Phillips & Osram are not)
This may be a stupid story leading to a stupid question, but I know just about nothing about electricity or lighting so am looking for a little help please.
We have a total of six lights (2 fittings x 3 bulbs each) running off one dimmer switch. Everything has worked fine for years, using various bulbs - some energy saving long lasting "CFLs", some not, different manufacturers at the same time, bulbs marked for different "watts" etc.
Today, I needed to replace one of the bulbs so I bought a couple of long lasting CFL bulbs, put one in and turned the lights on only to find some of the six bulbs were now flickering (not on and off, just flickering like someone was tweaking the power going into them ever so slightly... more like something you would see in a night club perhaps). Not all bulbs flickered, not all that flickered are on the same light fitting & all flickering bulbs are not from the same manufacturer. As far as I can see they had nothing in common.
I tried removing the bulb I had just bought and put in another (having bought a spare), but the same thing happened. The bulbs I bought were identical & made by Phillips, which I would have considered a good make (and some, while not all, of the existing bulbs are also made by Philips although are different in design or style).
I then went to another shop and purchased an alternative brand ("Osram"), again long life low energy CFLs. Having tried a couple of these, the same problem occured.
Then I went and bought a Solus manufactured bulb (not long life CFLs and with a poor energy rating compared to the others), fitted it into the set of six & hey presto, the flickering has stopped ! This Solas bulb is the only bulb of it's type and the only bulb from this manufacturer in the set of six bulbs, all of which run off the same dimmer switch. Five of the six bulbs are now CFLs, with this being the only bulb which is not.
All bulbs are the same size and fitting (E14/SES). Electric Ireland provide the electricty to the house. We are not experiencing this problem in any other room in the house (although I've not tried switching all of the light bulbs out of one room, into another), there is no significant weather issues and we're getting out electricity from Electric Ireland in a well established, mature residential Dublin city suborb.
Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this flickering problem and how I can prevent it ?
The flickering lights are terrible on the eyes, even if only for a few seconds. While it's now stopped, I'd like to be able to use any combination of bulbs, just as I have done for years and more importantly, use long life low energy bulbs in all six lights.
Any help would be much appreciated.
... and yes, it has already occured to me that I just should have bought Irish in the first instance, regrdless of long life or energy rating (Solus are an Irish company, whereas Phillips & Osram are not)
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