Retrofit CFL's and LED's into incandescant fixtures

[Jedon]

I'm building a house off the grid and am trying to find attractive yet energy efficient wall sconces. The ones I like are all "normal" and I could probably put normal CFL's in them but I would prefer to integrate a ballast into them so I can use the cheaper plug type CFL's. I would also like to integrate some LED's into the fixture so they can operate in "ambient" or "mood" mode to provide just enough light so I don't stub my toe. Bonus points if they can flicker like candles. The fixtures I really like are for candles so would be even harder to make work, I was thinking maybe the whole ballast and CFL and LED's could be hidden inside a tube that looked like a candle?

Here are some I like but can't get/afford

http://www.antiquelight.com/April22nd2006Scans/PairDragonSconces.html

http://www.antiquelight.com/March19th2003Scans/DragonSconce.html

Here is a knockoff for candles

http://www.designtoscano.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=2513&itemType=PRODUCT&iP



roductID=2513

This one is very nice but pricey

http://www.brandlighting.com/world_imports_chelsea.htm

( scroll down to the sconces )

Anybody have any ideas on how to light my home in style plus energy efficiency?

I plan on putting SolaTubes with integrated CFL's in places like the bathrooms.

Thanks!

-Jedon

[mtbandy]

I've toyed with the idea of modifying CFLs for 12v use, making my own ballasts etc but I've come to the conclusion that anything but a one-off is going to end up being a major construction project, and would probably eventually become a pain, especially when a failed bulb could mean getting the soldering iron out!

I guess you could incorporate CCFL inverters into the light fitting, and use the plug in tubes for those. It'd work for a few watts, and for small tubes you can match the tube to the inverter by changing the value of the high voltage capacitor on the output of the CCFL inverter. That would work for a 12v lighting system.

If I were you though, I'd probably use a combination of off the shelf CFLs (the candle sort, buy them in bulk from eBay) and incandescents, small 12w ones. I know I'll probably get flamed for saying that, but I don't think you can beat the light quality of filament lights for ambient/mood lighting, just don't install too many. When you need proper light turn on the CFLs. Just my opinion!

I found a neat way to run CFLs from a cheap inverter too - a cheap 'modified square wave' inverter will usually make CFLs buzz annoyingly and die early. The solution is to simply rectify and smooth the output at the inverter end, and use the high voltage DC for the lighting circuit. It works out much cheaper than buying 12v CFLs, and it's only slightly less efficient. Just thought it'd be worth mentioning!

[Slingshot]

Mtbandy,

If the driver circuit in the base of the CFL bulb works on either AC or DC, that would seem to imply that the first components inside must be rectifiers.  If that is the case, what is gained by "pre-rectifying" the incoming square AC, other than a little additional voltage drop?  

Or perhaps the construction is different than I assume - I've never taken one apart.

[mtbandy]

Yes - the CFL rectifies the incoming mains. However, the smoothing capacitor inside the CFL is way too small especially when the bulb is fed the nasty 'modified sine' waveform from the cheap inverter. The solution is to either add a larger smoothing capacitor inside the CFL (too much hassle, wouldn't fit), or simply rectify and smooth the mains properly before it gets to the bulb. This results in a nice quiet bulb that should last a lot longer.

[Jedon]

I want to put 2 or 4 pin CFL sockets with a ballast into an Edison based light fixture, due to Title 24 energy codes if it has an Edison socket then it's not energy efficient according to code since someone could stick a incandescent bulb in it ( not that I would since it will be off the grid! ).  I see ballasts for sale but am unclear on what exactly I need, say I want to power a 4 pin 18W CFL and have the ballast be hidden, (in the wall perhaps) what do I need?

I'm also thinking of running a few extra CAT5 cables and run some low amperage 12V to light up some LED's for ambient light, any feedback on that idea?

Thanks!

-Jedon

http://darklingcastle.com