Does the fluorescent lamp flicker?

Question

Do it yourself

Do fluorescent lamps (domestic spiral ones under the base) emit a constant luminous flux over time, some kind of sinusoid of radiation power, or do they generally flash in multiples of the frequency of the power source?

Answer 1

It became interesting, I took an oscilloscope and a photodiode, measured it.
It turned out that there is a ripple, but at a frequency of about 40 kHz.
50/100 Hz is not even close in the spectrum.
On the other hand, lamps are different,

Answer 2

They flicker at a frequency of 100 Hz (if from a standard network). Here they discuss why.

Answer 3

Gentlemen, what lamps are you talking about? Fluorescent lamps are cylindrical long lamps with a starter that have been used in institutions since Soviet times. They really do shimmer. I know because as a child, I had a toy player, and on the disc it had a stroboscope in the form of dashes for setting the speed. So, under fluorescent lamps, it worked very clearly, unlike ordinary lamps, under the light of which the borders of the lines were a little smeared.
If we are talking about energy-saving lamps, then no, they do not flicker, because. they have a pulse converter operating at a frequency of 20-40 knc, as already rightly noted here.
The flickering of 50 Hz is noticeable to the eye, but on ordinary lamps this is practically not visible due to the inertia of the lamp itself !!!

Answer 4

It all depends on the "origin" of an energy-saving lamp with a gas discharge tube. Good quality lamps are expensive (300r / 60W / 300WLightPower-900r / 80W / 400WLightPower) are most likely equipped with power distribution controllers, and a small dipstick compensates for an electrolytic capacitor by several tens of microfarads when changing the polarity of the alternating current. Indeed, the pulsation spectrum of such lamps will be in the range of 20KHz-500KHz, which is very difficult to determine by the eye. And no ripple at low frequencies.
Cheap Chinese lamps contain converters on a pair of transistors and, accordingly, give out a low-quality light flux, in the spectrum of which harmonics of the main power supply frequency may well be present. However, even cheap Chinese lamps with a gas discharge tube have capacitors that smooth out the rectified mains voltage, which makes the ripple almost imperceptible.

Answer 5

All energy-saving lamps (CFL + electronic ballasts) that I have seen have flickered less than the equivalent incandescent lamp. Yes, yes, they also flicker, and not weakly. The measurements were carried out using a self-made head from FD-7k and a transimpedance amplifier on an op amp (which was made to determine the exposure in holography) and an oscilloscope.