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Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

post #1 of 8
4/5/08 at 2:09pm
Thread Starter 
That was on the package of one of those cfl bulbs. I've got some carriage lights outside that are enclosed all around except the bottom. That's enclosed enough, isn't it.
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post #2 of 8
4/5/08 at 3:39pm

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

should be fine, unless you get really cold temps. Sometimes the non-exterior rated ones have trouble in extreme cold.
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post #3 of 8
4/5/08 at 5:55pm

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

I've had three CFL's in more-or-less enclosed carriage lamps outside here for 2 years now and they keep working like troopers. It gets down to around 8 degrees F here in the winter worst-case.
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post #4 of 8
4/5/08 at 6:10pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

8 degrees covers us here in LR. I've just been using regular light bulbs in these fixtures before. Just when I think I've converted every bulb in the house to cfl, I find some more. Guess I'll give them a try.
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post #5 of 8
4/5/08 at 8:28pm

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

I put equivalent 150w CFLs in similar eclosures this past fall. They worked fine over winter. It got down to 0F and below. They were noticeably slower getting to max brightness the colder it was outside, but even when it was below zero, they still hit maximum brightness in a very reasonable amount of time.
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post #6 of 8
4/6/08 at 8:28am

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

That should work just fine.
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post #7 of 8
4/7/08 at 6:15am

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

Yup, I don't remember, but there are two different types of ballast, magnetic and electronic and one of them doesn't work that well in cold temps, whereas the others do. In a CFL, it has it's built in ballast (in the base of the bulb) whereas a traditional flourescent tube fixture has an external ballast (and perhaps a starter cap) that you wire the endcaps too.

Something like that. (I had a ballast go bad on my kitchen flourescent tube light on the ceiling and I replaced the ballast once before I converted to a different fixture where I now use CFLs in it. it's just so much easier not having to deal with 4' tubes and ballasts that go bad or start buzzing.

jay
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post #8 of 8
4/8/08 at 6:57am

Re: Enclosure Required for Exterior Use?

Just be really careful if you break one!

http://energystar.gov/ia/partners/pr...et_Mercury.pdf
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