Today's EOL « on: February 24, 2026, 06:21:10 PM » Author: suzukir122
Got a lamp that reached an EOL today? Post about it here. Unfortunately I've got a lamp that reached EOL unexpectedly... one of my better CFL's... a 15w GE BIAX CFL, went EOL today. A component within the base failed, so it did not light up when I flipped the switch on. Showed no signs of EOL earlier in the day and worked perfectly fine. I'm assuming it might've been the starting capacitor that failed but I'm not sure. This was a Programmed Start CFL... the tube portion did NOT fail, so there was no EOL show, and fair weather end blackening from years of usage. I've used that GE BIAX CFL in my kitchen since 2020. This is unfortunately the second 15w BIAX to fail unexpectedly. The first one failed back in 2022. I took a pic of that one back then, shown here: https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1854&pos=40&pid=209478.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend

	Re: Today's EOL « Reply #2 on: February 28, 2026, 07:50:55 PM » Author: suzukir122
@Emersyn,... not sure what's going on there. What kind of electronic ballast is used in that fixture? All four ends are heavily blackened, which leads me to believe it may be a ballast (or ballasts) issue... maybe. That fixture could be operating much, much better than that. Also, does that fixture encounter any sort of... frequent switching...? Just wondering. To anyone reading this, I forgot to mention: ballast EOL's or the EOL's of anything that aids the ballasts in any way, counts as well. ... and you guys may know this already, but: this is not at all limited to just Fluorescent. ... just thought I'd throw that out there.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend

	Re: Today's EOL « Reply #3 on: Today at 04:34:53 AM » Author: LightsAreBright27
I had this F20T12 daylight lamp that was EOL. I didn't use it because it was rare. Today I wanted to fire it up just for a few seconds (not long enough to lose vacuum) using a GE 2x 40w instant start ballast. But even running it for 3 seconds made it lose vacuum with a hiss. After losing vacuum the endcap on the EOL side fell off. Here's the lamp (a while before I ran it today): https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=14396&pos=67&pid=261314
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Holder of the rare F10T12/BL Preheat Fixture here!
Also known as LAB27 for short.
245v 50Hz

	Re: Today's EOL « Reply #4 on: Today at 07:12:07 AM » Author: suzukir122
@LightsAreBright27, the endcap falling off also sounds interesting. It's possible that the endcaps weren't glued to the tube very well. I've had this happen on very rare occasions, really only with cheap PL-S lamps, and cheap smaller T5 lamps. I've never encountered a T12 lamp with this issue. Although I have encountered T12's with endcaps that have too much glue, and endcaps that were attached in a crooked manner... Sylvania... Anyways, completed a weekly check of all of my fluorescent lamps in use in my apartment. It appears as if none of my CFL's are ready to EOL yet, and of course, all twenty two of my F30T12's are running fine, as well as my newest addition: an F15T12 in a strip fixture. That's running fine as well aside from swirling. Hah... in short, I've got nothing new for this thread yet.
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend

	Re: Today's EOL « Reply #5 on: Today at 07:34:58 AM » Author: LightsAreBright27
@suzukir122 on some extreme cases I've had endcapls fall of taking the lead of the tube as well! I had an F20T12 daylight (a different one, not the eol one) whose endcap twisted off with the lead wires, making the tube completely unusable! https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=8026&pos=2&pid=265258 When they get loose, i just put some tape around it making sure it is aligned with the other side, or else the tube doesn't work in fixtures
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Holder of the rare F10T12/BL Preheat Fixture here!
Also known as LAB27 for short.
245v 50Hz

	Re: Today's EOL « Reply #7 on: Today at 10:00:43 AM » Author: suzukir122
@Emersyn... wire slipping out of a socket... depending on what kind of electronic rapid start ballast this is, that could be a very big issue. ... Are you ever going to replace that ballast with a higher quality magnetic HPF Rapid Start ballast? @LightsAreBright27, long time ago but I've actually broken a T5 lamp due to twisting the lead wires. The lead wires cracked the cathode and the lamp basically exploded. Loud boom. Scared the CRAP out of me. This of course was when I was a kid. lol
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Interests:
1. Motorcycles, Cars, Women, and Lighting (especially fluorescent)
2. Weightlifting/staying extremely athletic
3. Severe Thunderstorms of all kinds
4. Food and drinks. So gimme them bbq ribs
Lighting has ALWAYS been a passion of mine. I consider everyone on here to be a friend

	Re: Today's EOL « Reply #9 on: Today at 04:57:17 PM » Author: xmaslightguy
Quote from: Emersyn sometimes a wire will slip out of a socket which causes cathode heating issues. This is not a problem of the ballast or the fixture, but the sockets themselves... The little metal tabs that hold the wires can become bent/lose their springy-ness so they don't grip very well ... especially if ballasts have been changed a few times.  It might at first 'feel like' the wire is in place good, but in reality it isn't & ends up popping out fairly easily later on. Depending on how the sockets are made, some can be taken apart & its simply a matter of bending the tabs just slightly so they again are putting pressure on/holding the wires tight. (I've done this a number of times!). Some though don't come apart, so you'd have to replace 'em (they're not that expensive so its well worth doing)
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ThunderStorms/Lightning/Tornados are meant to be hunted down & watched...not hidden from in the basement!