the base of my cfl bulb is getting hot to the touch within 10 minuites of turning on... whats going on? is it meant to be this hot? its a 100watt bulb, but i was suprised by how hot the electrics part got |(the actual tube is very cool)|
One reason CFLs put out 50% less lumens than T5s is because of the disposable and relatively inefficient built-in ballasts. That inefficiency shows up as heat.
You have stumbled upon some simple electronics basics. If you were to take that CFL apart you would find a circuit card. They use cheap capacitors, and cheap heat sinks. Since the Feds have outlawed incandescent bulbs and everyone is migrating to CFLs if a CFL was 10 bucks a bulb vice the 50 cents incandescents were or cheaper people would be outraged so they make them as cheap as possible. Its actually one of the issues vexing LED light bulb lamp replacements. Phillips I think it was finally solved some of the issues...they were getting insanely hot. One maker uses liquid to cool it if I recall correctly. Insane Swami will undoubtably correct my inaccuracies.
Naw, you said basically the same thing with a bit more detail. For the real fun go see my uneducated fans on the 'Overdriving T8s' thread. http://forum.grasscity.com/lighting/967355-test-overdriving-48-t8-tubes-2x-more-light-output.html