How to use burnt Compact Florescent Light Circuit Module

Note and precautions: CFL's contain mercury which is hazardous material, so it should be handled accordingly
Most CFL lamps, electronic circuits are working perfect and are still useable, only the bulb goes defective. CFL circuit of 18-24 Watts are useful for the activation ofreplacement type two feet 18-20 Watt Florescent Tube Light bulb.

Step 1 Find a CFL

You will need a CFL as shown in picture. Any CFL of which bulb is defective, broken or has outlive its life is useful for this modification. Drive voltage may be according to your country 110 Volt or 220 Volts. In my country (Pakistan) voltage standard is 220/230 Volts.

Comments

[waheguruji652]

NICE PROJECT IFFEE- REALLY YOU HAVE GIVEN A GREAT IDEA -THREE CHEERS TO YOUR IDEA -REGARDS

[khamunads]

All credit goes to the great visitors who are visit this site.Its not only to know but also earn knowledge more and more.I am very pleased to read through the article.Thank you very much to the all the informative comments.

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[kemog]

Hello, this is understandable and easy to accomplish. And I am interested for same thing but in car usage (12 V). do you have any ideas or instructions about using good parts of CFL with smaller fluo tube which can fit in rear part (trunk) of a car. Thank you!

[iffee]

@kemong,
I have circuit from talkingelectronics.com

12V Fluro inverter

I built it and using since last 3 years, It is very efficient if built according to
the instructions,

[wolfy_9005]

Nice. Would it be possible to remove the but you attack to the wall and make a handle so you can use it like a portable shop light?

[iffee]

It requires connection to the wall plug, so may not be convenient to use as shop light.

[joinaqd]

nice instructable,by the way im from Bangladesh..salam

[iffee]

Brother Wa-Alekum Asslam

[msw100]

Great instructable You show a picture of a philips bulb with straight elements but the circuit is from the spiral CFL do you have the pinouts for the straight element bulb?

[MairseyDotes]

The straight flouro tube has two pins at each end. There is a low-wattage incandescent coil between the two pins at each end; just connect the two pins from one end to the wires that are next to each other on the electronics board, and the same for the other end of the tube - you should have four wires on the board which were originally connected to the spiral tube. Try to imagine the spiral tube "unwound" into a straight tube and you'll see how it works.

[iffee]

@MairseyDotes. Well explained

[pako]

It's a good idea, I have a lot of dead cfl circuit and standby
using them as sources of high voltage, now installing it on old
lamps with ballast heavy and noisy, so
noise disappears and the ignition will be faster.

[sun_ray2050]

http://youtu.be/31cWHJQaQUM
but with 40W FL
soon will try with twice electronic ballast

[adi1977]

Hello Sir

Its a great project. Please let me know can we connect 20X1watt led or 8x3watt led connected in series with a 20 watt cfl module. What changes have to be made.

[iffee]

This is not suitable for LED type lights.

[chub2]

Most common CFL are 18W to 26 W. if one wants to run a 40 w tube how do we modify the circuit?

regards

Chuba

[labatt]

 chub2 you don't have to modify the circuit for  a 26W to 40W tube, the main concept is add some heat sink around the transistors or ground the tube  mettalic housing to. However all in all just try and implement the procedure in this instructable and you may be surprised that it works, For tubes they only fail to work because it fails to strike on, putting your hands  near the tube makes it strike (grounding)

[chub2]

Thanks for your prompt suggestion, I have around 6 dead CFL lying around at home, I have tried your method, it works ! except for one which had burnt parts.

However, it is found that, CFL choke connected to the light light is not as bright as the original CFL.

[arzhou]

Hi, I was wondering is it possible to buy the ballast commercially? I checked online but it did not seem possible. How much would a ballast cost?

[iffee]

Main purpose of this instructable is to use those CFLs of which bulb has been burnt or damaged and its circuit (module) is in working order. It is a salvaged part and not sold separately.

For more information "About failed CFLs

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=27197

[Vulcanator]

go to your local hardware store 

[Vulcanator]

 they are $25-$30

[bronz]

Hello Sir
                 Looking at CLF circuit there are four pins ,two of which go to one side of the tube and the other two to the other side.Just a Curiosity ,how do we know which ones are +ve and which ones -ve.
                 And one more thing,the circuit intake is AC and output ?.If output is also AC.How can we make it DC.

[quince_ron15]

sir,did you use the starter?

[bronz]

sir this is excellent work. how much watt and current do you think will be suppling to tube1 and 2. And can we use the similar process to make an adopter. Thanks

[iffee]

@Bronz: There is only one tube 20 Watts.

[12V]

some times i have cfls sent to me for free.

[iffee]

@alcpower1 1. Your CFL module should compare by wattage to the lamp you want to use. little can be tolerated, say for 8W you can use 6 to 10 watt type CFL module. 2. No starter required. 3. There are 4 wires to be connected to the tube (2 each side) If the CFL module and Tube are perfect then seems no problem..

[alcpower1]

Dear iffee, I did exactly as you suggested. I obtained a 9 watt CFL module (to match closely to my 8w, 12" fluorescent bulb) and it worked the first time. It is very bright, no flickering, and I saved at least $14 from having to purchase a new ballast for this set-up (3 gallon fish tank hood light). Thank you for your Instructables. Best Regards, AL Santa Clara California

[alcpower1]

Hello iffee, Thanks very much for your reply. I will try another 6-10 watt CFL module and let you know the results. If I purchase an electronic ballast online, the cheapest is about $8 with $8 shipping ($16) so I hope to save some money using your method. AL Santa Clara, California

[ajaypi]

Nice article...thanks

[alcpower1]

Hello, Thank you for posting it. I did try this with an 8w, 12 inch long fluorescent tube used for a fish tank hood light that I want working again. I did not want to spend money on replacing the magnetic and bulky ballast transformer and wanted to upgrade with the CFL electronic ballast. So, I tried two times with two different ballasts from two different CFLs. One was old (but still was working) and the second one was new. I FAILED both times to make the small 8W fluorescent light come on. What am I doing wrong? Q1: Does the CFC work with a small 8W tube fluorescent light ? Q2: Am I missing a part (Is there a starter still required?). I didn't think so as a starter, i think is needed only with the heavy, (60Hz) magnetic ballast and not needed with the electronic ballast in the CFC. Any advice would be welcome as I have spent at least 5 hours on this project today, Independence Day, USA. Thanks in advance! AL in Santa Clara, California.

[nemroff]

(removed by author or community request)

[0xCyrusx0]

You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. The mercury is CONTAINED INSIDE of the glass. Therefore, you have to break the glass to be exposed to it. Even then, it contains extremely small amounts of mercury.

[nemroff]

each cfl bulb contains anywhere between 1 - 4 mg of mercury, not a ton, but more than 0. The mercury is a gas floating around inside the bulb. It's released by the act of opening the tube. In some cases by attempting to remove the base one can damage the tube. As ironsmiters said, you can attempt this project but you must approach it carefully. Integrated CFLs are, after all, not intended for this use, that's what non-integrated ones are for. please, next time don't respond so angrily, it's totally unnecessary. by responding so aggressively you break the Instructables "be nice" comment policy. and anyway, after all, in your own words, "You obviously have no idea what you are talking about."

[geeklord]

Yea, my school went to a "STEM"(Science Technology Engineering and Math) Conference thingy. And the only cool thing they had was a tesla coil(that was pretty wimpy) and they demonstrated how you can hold the flourescent tubes near it and they light up. Someone dropped one, and they were long tubes too, and you could see the vapor but nobody did anything about it...... Was that a bad thing???
^{sorry that was so long......}

[tanmanknex]

if you're still alive, then it didn't matter, as long as you didn't bend over and breathe in the smoke. ;D

[geeklord]

alright, good to know

[BFeely]

Opening a CFL only releases mercury if you break the tube.

[ReCreate]

yeah , CFLs have about 5Miligrams of mercury,about 100 is lethal,so if you do brake it,who cares your not a dead man,unless it you go through like 20 of these and brake every one of them