LICODA

Here’s some really basic info to help get you started.

The general term applied to fluorescent lamps that are single-ended and have bent, smaller diameter tubes is compact or compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Some CFLs have integral ballasts and a medium or candelabra screw base for easy replacement of incandescent lamps.

Let’s begin with the easy one - integrally ballasted (or self-ballasted) compact fluorescent lamps are used to replace incandescent lamps. They screw into a socket that would otherwise use an incandescent lamp. (AKA ‘A’ style lamp or candelabra base, you know, Thomas Edison…)

DOUBLE TWIN-TUBE
For commercial purposes, we use a 4-pin based lamp. These will use an electronic ballast. There are such things as 2-pins lamps out there, but Title 24 prohibits the use of them, so act like they don’t exist :o)

Some manufacturers have their own names for CF lamps, see below for a helpful chart:

PL - LONG TUBE

When is lamp image a good thing - when it is intentional, of course. And only when it is intentional.

What is lamp image? Lamp image typically occurs when a lamp is placed so close to a surface, that the outline or shape of the lamp is discernible. A form of lamp imaging also occurs when using multiple lamps in progression. When the lamps are not close enough to each other, the dark area generated in between the sources is easily perceptible and often delineates what is intended as a continuous installation.

Lamp image can be another aesthetic element to highlight an element or compliment the geometry of an environment. The example image, Figure 1, shows a space that features lamp images (assumed to be intentional) that accent the front of the reception area. This photo is clipped from page 37 of the current Louis Poulsen catalog, hosted at LouisPoulsen.com, and is of the Fitness and Recreation Center at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.

When using intentional lamp images on your project, be sure to pay close attention to the details. Lamp images can detract from a good lighting installation when thought is not given to size and spacing of the image produced.