Narva LD:9W Compact Fluorescent
Following the launch of Philips' PL* compact fluorescents in 1981, it immediately became clear that this would set an important new global light source standard. By late 1983 Osram had caught up with its Dulux S equivalent, and GTE Sylvania was third to market in 1984. In the Americas there was little motivation to develop such lamps due to the low energy costs, but several Eastern European manufacturers were quick to establish their own production. In particular Tungsram achieved success following its takeover by GE of America, but it is little known that both Tesla and Narva also briefly produced twin-tube compact fluorescent lamps.

Narva commenced production in East Germany during the late 1980s, and this is one of its earliest examples. It is similar to the Philips design, but the glass bridge is unusually close to the ends, which must limit its cold spot temperature and performance in hot luminaires. The plastic base is roughly moulded and looks almost like a prototype.

Although the Soviet-era Narva group produced fluorescent lamps in the former DDR at its Brand-Erbisdorf factory, and also operated a smaller miniature fluorescent and neon factory at Halle, it is believed that its original compact fluorescent lamps were developed and produced at the Berlin HID and Incandescent plant. These were only made very briefly until its 1991 bankruptcy. Thereafter the Narva factories were fragmented into separate companies, and it was not until 1995 that CFL production resumed following the development of the highly innovative helical lamps at Narva Brand-Erbisdorf. The simple twin-tube lamps such as this could not be made competitively enough in the Narva German facilities, and were thereafter produced in Dubai.
Manufacturer: Narva
Lamp Power: 9 Watts
Lamp Current: 0.170 Amps
Lamp Voltage: 60 Volts
Cap Type: G23 Aluminium + Nylon?
Bulb Type: T-12.5 T-4 in eighths/inch
Bulb Finish: Y2O3:Eu3+, CeMgAl11O19:Tb3+ Soda-lime glass
Electrodes: Triple Coil Tungsten Triple carbonate emitter
Atmosphere: Argon + Hg
Luminous Flux: 600 lm @ 100h
Luminous Efficacy: 66.7 lm/W @ 100h
Colour Temperature & CRI: CCT: 2700K CRI: Ra 81
Chromaticity Co-ordinates: CCx: 0.460 CCy: 0.414
Lifetime: 5000 hours
Warm-up & Re-strike Time: 2 minutes Instant
Burning Position: Universal
Overall Length: 167 mm 65/8 inches
Lighted Area: 106 x 27 x 13 mm 43/16 x 11/16 x 1/2 inches
Mass: 45 grams
Factory: Berlin Germany
Date of Manufacture: 1989 Date Code: 9
Original Value:
References: 1) Narva Berliner Glühlampenwerk Catalogue 1992 Germany