N3210
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| I discovered I had 2 generations of GE Helical. I did some google searching and I discovered this:
Correct me if anything is wrong.
1st Generation: Big (Credit to lite_lover)
2nd Generation: Preheat? with external ballast (Mine is daylight, that could be rare?)
3rd Generation: Same build as 2nd generation, except lumens listed
4th Generation: Has holes on bottom and top.
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WorldwideHIDCollectorUSA
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HID, LPS, and preheat fluorescents forever!!!!!!
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| All of these CFL lamps use integrated electronic ballasts.
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Desire to collect various light bulbs (especially HID), control gear, and fixtures from around the world.
DISCLAIMER: THE EXPERIMENTS THAT I CONDUCT INVOLVING UNUSUAL LAMP/BALLAST COMBINATIONS SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED UNLESS YOU HAVE THE PROPER KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES.
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N3210
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| Mine (with external ballast) starts differently. How can it be electronic ballast? (I have video)
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Patrick
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What do you mean by external ballast? Here's a spiral CFL with a non-integrated ballast, but they aren't common. |
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N3210
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| I define "external ballast" as this:
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dor123
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| The ballast is still integrated into the lamp. External ballasts CFL is the PL lamps.
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.
I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).
I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.
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N3210
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| Ohhhhhh... Then again, I wonder why my Helicals start differently though? Different ballast technology?
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« Last Edit: May 21, 2022, 06:46:44 PM by N3210 »
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James
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The first helical CFL was a GE prototype of 1976 without ballast, see here. It took a further twenty years to develop the manufacturing equipment, and GE announced the Heliax lamps for sale in 1996. They were also pin-ended types intended to replace triple-tube CFL lamps. However, due to manufacturing difficulties very few made it to market before they were quickly discontinued. Around 2005 GE tried again, and launched a self-ballasted Heliax lamp. It was made possible thanks to an improved machine developed by its Hungarian Tungsram division, and they were sold in the USA for several years. See example here. Nots its elegant shape how the diameter of the spiral varies to create a ball shape like an incandescent lamp. This was probably GE’s first truly commercial spiral lamp. It wad expensive to make, and within a year or two GE began sourcing hand-made spiral lamps from Chinese factories. The first were made in T4 glass, and around 2008 they shifted to T3 and T2 with a major size reduction. |
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« Last Edit: May 22, 2022, 06:04:54 PM by James »
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Patrick
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| Lights of America states that they introduced their "Twister Bulb" in 1997. Their early spiral CFLs were stamped "Made in USA" though whether they actually formed their own glass or imported tubes they merely assembled, that I don't know. LOA has a reputation for exaggerating the extent to which their products are made domestically, as well as the lumen output and average life. I see their website is gone, so I wonder if they've finally gone out of business. The quality of their LED products was arguably even more dubious than their fluorescents, and they'd pretty much disappeared from major retailers over the past decade.
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AngryHorse
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Rich, Coaster junkie!
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Interesting, I never noticed the ‘ball’ shape on the GE before!, question is though, to keep this shape how did they remove the spiralling mantle from the tube once it was coiled?  |
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Current: UK 230V, 50Hz
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Street lighting in our town: Philips UniStreet LED (gen 1)
Longest serving LED in service at home, (hour count): Energetic mini clear globe: 54,050 hrs @ 10/2/24
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Mandolin Girl
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They might have used a high temperature silicon bladder which they deflated.  |
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Hugs and STUFF Sammi xXx (also in Aberdeen)  
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There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.
James Thurber
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AngryHorse
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Rich, Coaster junkie!
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| That sounds plausible yes, I’ve only ever seen the rotating metal ones?
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Current: UK 230V, 50Hz
Power provider: e.on energy
Street lighting in our town: Philips UniStreet LED (gen 1)
Longest serving LED in service at home, (hour count): Energetic mini clear globe: 54,050 hrs @ 10/2/24
Welcome to OBLIVION
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dor123
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Lights of America states that they introduced their "Twister Bulb" in 1997. Their early spiral CFLs were stamped "Made in USA" though whether they actually formed their own glass or imported tubes they merely assembled, that I don't know. LOA has a reputation for exaggerating the extent to which their products are made domestically, as well as the lumen output and average life. I see their website is gone, so I wonder if they've finally gone out of business. The quality of their LED products was arguably even more dubious than their fluorescents, and they'd pretty much disappeared from major retailers over the past decade.
I think they were only an American importer of Chinese lamps, that stamped their brands of the lamps they were imported. |
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I"m don't speak English well, and rely on online translating to write in this site.
Please forgive me if my choice of my words looks like offensive, while that isn't my intention.
I only working with the international date format (dd.mm.yyyy).
I lives in Israel, which is a 220-240V, 50hz country.
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James
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| Good question about how they removed the former! A silicone material would be destroyed at almost a thousand degrees lower so a steel structure was certainly used. I believe it was a 3 or 4-part mould allowing it to be dismantled and removed.
I have the same view about LoA. For many people in the industry who knew them, the L meant something other than
lights!
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Mandolin Girl
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| Thanks James, I knew you would know, if I'd stopped to think properly I would have realised that silicon wouldn't stand up to the rigours of the process.
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Hugs and STUFF Sammi xXx (also in Aberdeen)
Published Author
There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates, and the glare that obscures.
James Thurber
SMILEY ONLY ANSWERS WILL BE DELETED FROM MY POSTS
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