Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Light is dim for first few minutes

I installed a new ceiling lamp in a house with old wiring. There were no problems with the old lamp, we changed it only for looks. The lamp is always a bit dim after turning it on, then after just a few minutes of warming up it achieves full brightness. One of the 2 bulbs is always slightly dim at first. Which bulb is dim changes when the bulbs are rotated and new bulbs are put in, so it isn't a bulb problem. I'm using CFLs... Any ideas?

It's not unusual for CFL's to take up to several minutes to reach full brightness. It does not sound like a problem with the fixture.

Try a couple of incandescent bulbs. Is this just a standard switch?

Yep, it is a standard switch. I can't use incandescent bulbs because the wiring is old, and I need to keep the temp as low as possible!

I meant incandescent for a couple of minutes just to test the lights come on full.

How about try the bulbs in another fixture.

How about try the bulbs in another fixture. Good idea.



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Yep, it is a standard switch. I can't use incandescent bulbs because the wiring is old, and I need to keep the temp as low as possible!

Was the old fixture incandescent? What was the problem with it?

You didn't say what wattage the inky lamps were ... you can use 15- or 20-watt inkies for your test so it doesn't heat up as much ...

But I think you'll find that the nature of a CFL is to take up to a minute to come up to full brightness. That's the nature of the beast.

LED lamps are instant-on, but they cost more.

Most case the CFL do take up to a min or two to get full brightness but very few CFL do can come on full bright right away so expect that to do that way.

sometime change diffrent brand name CFL it will make the diffrence as well.

Merci,Marc