[Shop-talk] Fluorescent lights (I need help here)

[Steven Trovato]

My personal experience is that if I replace the tubes in one fixture, 
it will appear noticeably less bright at first.  An hour later, it 
will look like the others.  I don't know how long it takes to 
actually reach full brightness in scientific terms.  I just know that 
if I judged them by the first five minutes, I'd be taking them back 
for a refund.  And this is with Walmart shoplights, Philips bulbs, no 
dimmers.

-Steve Trovato
strovato at optonline.net

At 01:27 AM 3/15/2013, Randall wrote:
> > 12 to 24 hours.  It's particularly important with dimming
> > ballasts, because improper burn in leads to greatly reduced
> > lamp life.  Proper burn in increases lamp life, increases
> > output, and decreases warm up time.
>
>Seems to be a lot of variation in recommendations.  Philips and GE claim at
>least some of their bulbs don't require burn-in
>http://goo.gl/pW84Z
>http://goo.gl/mhqrI
>While Osram suggests 100 hours, not just 12 to 24
>http://goo.gl/3mYtq
>
>But I couldn't find anything to suggest that light output rises after
>burn-in; in fact it drops somewhat from "initial" lumens to "design" lumens.
>It also applies only to bulbs that will be dimmed, which I doubt Inch is
>planning to do.
>
>Randall