Energy-efficient CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) continue to gain in popularity for home and office lighting. However, dimmer switches, which control many incandescent lights, can cause a standard CFL to break down. Dimmer switches vary the voltage to the light by switching the source ac voltage using SCRs (silicon-controlled rectifiers), thus enabling incandescent bulbs to vary their brightness from 0 to 100%. Standard CFLs have steady 120V-ac inputs and hence do not respond well to use with dimmer switches. As a result, controlling the ballast for a CFL to adapt to the switched ac voltage requires a more complex, expensive ballast that, due to the greater number of parts and increased complexity, is more prone to failure. In addition, you cannot adjust most currently available dimmable CFLs to less than 10% of their full-on brightness.
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