Chandelier Lighting

The only reason I can think of is that there is a dimmer or similar type circuit driving the bulbs. CFL's will not work properly on a dimmer circuit. If this unit is on a standard switch, perhaps there is dimming circuitry in the unit itself?

Tom

There may be a small difference in the screw-in base dimensions such that the new bulbs don't quite touch bottom in the sockets. However, I haven't had this problem when changing out many of my incandescents in similar fixtures.

In nearly all my early approaches to these 'new' lamps i found it very difficult to obtain bulbs which fitted mechanically correctly.

Some would not make contact.

Some would not fit the envelope.

And those that passed the above test were very slow to start and had poor luminosity and I still cannot readily obtain bulbs of greater than 22 Watts, ~75 Watt equivalent lumens.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic but that is the way that I have found it.

My study has been set up with 7 downlighters, all were 50Watt Halogen, I replaced a number of these with 12 V flourescents and some with 240 Volt flourescents and some were left unchanged.

After 2 years when my eyesight has suffered I am gradualy going back to 12 Volt Halogens - only one left to go! The worst one was immediately above my Desk and changing this back again was a tremendous boost to lighting levels. At least one factor was that the beamwidth of a Halogen bulb can be designed and fixed and is repeatable, so that the bulb above my desk now presents good light at Desk level.

NB I have not seen a credible improvement in Life - I have seen the same failure rate from flourescent as Halogens.

NB 2 I believe that better bulbs will eventually emerge ( maybe LEDs if properly, that is current driven) but where good light levels are needed then some hard decisions have to be made. LEds will still, I believe have to be very carefully made to avoid having to be individually adjusted for light and life.

NB 3 Where light quantity is not so important then I can find lights which will fit some of the sockets around the place.

Sleepy

1)) Check the voltage rating of your new bulbs and check the voltage you got in your sockets. If identical, the bulbs should light, provided that all contacts touch. 2)) On some newer bulbs, the bulb screw is a bit shorter so the contact point in the screw-end center does not always reach the contact in the socket center. 3)) This is not the forum to explain at length how the sockets are wired but you can get a nasty shock from a socket even if your lamp switch is in the "OFF" position. So leave the socket alone, do not risk your life but call an electrician to fix this for you.

If proper voltage is at the sockets and new bulbs won't light, the new bulbs are probably not making contact with the socket centre. This centre contact is often a tab of spring metal that with heat and pressure from the bulb's base can lose its springiness and become flattened. Examine this centre contact to determine if this has happened. If so, turn off the power and use a small flat screwdriver to reach into the socket base and pry the tab of spring metal of the centre contact up again, enabling the centre of the base of the new bulb to reach it.

Another possibility is that the energy-savers are rated for a higher voltage, and won't "strike up" at the voltage connected to the chandelier.

Another possibility is that the supply is DC and the energy-savers are in need of an AC supply to make 'em work. An incandescent will work on either.

It's a bit difficult to see these sorts of things from here....

Hmmm, I wonder if your 5-bulb chandelier is using 5 x 24v rated bulbs in series across a 115v supply. That could explain the reluctance of fluoro bulbs to light.

Mark Bingham
Relativity PL

check is incandescent bulbs are connected in series. If yes the CFL will not work in these type of connection. You need, in that case, modify connections to parallel and these will 100% glow. try and benefit all

Are the old bulbs standard incandescents?