Knowing full well that dimmers and CFLs don't mix, I tried one on our 13-lamp chandalier because, well, 13x40W is a lot more electricity than 13x15W for less light and I wanted to convince my wife we should be using CFLs, which she normally hates. Also, it's a cheap 6 for $10 wal-mart CFL so I didn't mind if it burnt out in a week as has been my experience with our other dimmer and the occupancy sensor in the den.
Inexplicably, it's not only worked, but worked GREAT. 12x40W incandescents with 1x15W CFL- the CFL is brighter, dims better, consumes less electricity, and has lasted over a year now. With the dimmer the whole way down, the incandescents are useless, but the CFL is giving off a niec bright glow still. And it gives much better color of light (it's got these faux candle covers that normally makes the room look orange.) I'm hesitant to try it with more than one CFL without yanking the dimmer, especially now that I've actually looked at the circuit and what I did here, but it really does surprise me.
Last edited by SteveFehr; 05/06/08 06:51 AM.
