Compact Dimmable Fluorescent GU10 Bulbs

What are they?

Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) as they are known, utilise the established, efficient, fluorescent tube technology which has been in operation in kitchens and workspaces for approximately 30 years. The normally bulky 'control gear' involved in starting and operating fluorescent tubes has been greatly reduced allowing the production of lamps which fit into a space previously only serviced by Incandescent and Halogen lamps. As an extension of this development a number of lamp manufacturers have developed the technology to allow the level of light output to be altered using dimmer technology.


Why are Compact Fluorescent Lamps (bulbs) so Environmentally sound?

Very simply, a downlight with a 50W Halogen GU10 lamp can be replaced with a downlight containing an 11W, GU10 CFL, with the same level of light output. Thats a 78% reduction in power usage for the same light output.

Who Produces Dimmable Compact Fluorescent Lamps?

A number of new and established manufacturers have entered this market, but one of the unquestioned market leaders is Megaman. They produced the first Compact Fluorescent in 1994, followed by the worlds first GU10 CFL in 2002, achieving Step-Dimming in 2005 followed by smooth-dimming in 2006.

How Do I Install Dimmable Compact Fluorescent Lamps?

Two main considerations need to be made prior to making a purchase and selecting a layout for your dimmable compact fluorescents:

1. What type of CFL Dimmer are you going to use? Despite belief to the contrary, dimmable CFL lamps mostly do not work with the standard leading edge dimmers sold on the UK market. The most popular and economic solution is to install a CFL specific dimmer, such as those produced by varilight. Alternatively, for a better dimming range and general overall performance (at a substantial premium) the trailing edge dimmers from Richmond Lighting have proved very succesful and can be integrated with other manufacturers metal and plastic plate ranges. *Update (16/4/10) - Sources from within Megaman tell us that release of their own trailing edge dimming module is iminent so we'll keep you posted!
2. The number of dimmable CFL lamps per circuit. To illustrate this point I will refer to one of our most popular low energy dimmable fittings, the Click Scolmore CF409 downlight, which we supply complete with the Megaman 11W CFL Dimmable GU10. The Varilight CFL dimmer which we supply either with its standard white plastic plate or with any of the Click Scolmore metal plate range (Deco, Define, Definity, etc) has a quoted range from 11W to 66W, which obviously means 1 - 6 of the 11W dimmable CF409 fittings. Again, anecdotal feedback from contractors using these modules strongly suggests that, whilst the lamp limit should not be exceeded, best performance is achieved when the maximum number of lamps is used (ie 6no 11W lamps). The other main alternative is the Richmond 600TE trailling edge dimming unit, it has been tested by Ricmond to work with between three and eleven dimmable CFL lamps. Interestingly, Megaman are quoting up to twenty lamps (220W) on one circuit with this unit, though we have not had this proven yet!