Leccy Techy required....

... to give me an explanation, please, preferably in words of no more than
two syllables, why these energy-saving long-life fluorescent bulbs won't
work in touch-sensitive lights that alter the brightness of normal tungsten
bulbs at each touch.
Just a simple explanation will do nicely, thank you, nothing too technical!

Frogman...

It's because they have a gas inside which is what actually lights up
and they need full voltage to strike up and remain lit, where as a
Tungsten lamp has a filament which doesn't need full voltage and can
run "dimmer" on a lower voltage.

MCC...

Thanks Froggy, that all makes sense to me.

Frogman...

My pleasure.

And only one word of four syllables and one with three :-))

Frogman...

lol :-)

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

One flaw. It's the phosphor on the inside of the glass bulb that emits the
light. The UV light, (we can't see it) causes the phosphor to glow. Don't

Frogman...

Well yes that is correct but I was just trying to explain it in
basically *very* simple terms without going into too much detail.

think I've gone over the two syllable limit - except for the word syllable -
but since Mike used it first I presume he knows what it means.

Ali...

Modern dimmer switches turn off the power for part of the 50Hz cycle.
Tungsten lamps just run cooler, fluorescents just don't light if the power

pmj...

Oi!
You haven't said what "GLS" stands for!

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

General Lighting Service - sowwy, I thought everybody knew that. :)

No point using all the "Jargon", if you don't explain the various
Abbreviations!
:-)

pmj...

I will always remember a fascinating Factory visit I went on, when
I was taken (by one of our Wholesalers) to the Thorn Lighting (as in
AME - Atlas Mazda Ecko etc,) Factory in Enfield.

It was very interesting seeing how the Light Bulbs were made, from
the Glass (Bulb shaped) Envelope & all the little bits!

& seeing the (hundreds) of Fluorescent Tubes rolling down the Conveyor
& then being shunted off (at the very last stage) into all the various
different other Conveyors, so they could be sprayed with the "Brand
Name" & then put into the (Pre-Printed) Corrugated CardBoard Sleeves for
all the different Brands that they Manufactured for was enlightening!

I noticed the way they seemed to bash them around quite happily & some
of them broke...

I asked them why they weren't more careful, surely it was expensive
if they kept breaking them?

& the Answer was that it's far better to have the weaker ones break
in the Factory, rather than in transit or in storage or in the
Retailer's premises & then have to replace them when people complained
about getting a broken one.

is off too long.

TUVM