GE Compact Fluorescent Mod-U-Line 13W

Following the launch of Philips' PL* compact fluorescents in 1981, it immediately became clear that they would set an important new standard. Other lampmakers scrambled to catch up, with Osram and Sylvania following in 1984. Both took a departure from the Philips concept of a Pi-shaped discharge tube, and favoured a squared U-bend shape.

GE meanwhile was slow to embrace CFL technology. It had favoured miniature metal halide lamps, and when it became clear that those would be too expensive they explored circline fluorescents with ballast adaptors to fit incandescent sockets - but those were too large to win significant market interest. Being late to market, in 1984 GE made an arrangement to source lamps from Osram. It was not until 1986 that GE finally established its own CFL manufacturing, of which this lamp is one of the first examples.

It appears to be an exact copy of Osram's design, but has an unusual rating of 13W. Of the original range of 5, 7, 9 and 11W lamps, all were intended for use on the same choke ballast in 220-250V countries. The 5, 7 and 9W can also be used on 100-130V mains, but the discharge voltage of the 11W is too high. The quick solution to this problem was to introduce a lamp having similar luminous flux as the 11W but with reduced discharge voltage. That was achieved by reducting the discharge length and increasing its current. Due to the high loading, efficacy is about 10% reduced, therefore requiring a power of 13W. Because it could be poentially hazardous to operate one of the lower current lamps on the new high-current 13W ballasts, the cap and lampholder were modified with an extra keyway, resulting in the GX23 standard being used only for high current lamps.

Manufacturer:	General Electric U.S.A.
Lamp Power:	13 Watts
Lamp Current:	0.290 Amps
Lamp Voltage:	56 Volts
Cap Type:	G23	Al + Valox PBT
Bulb Type:	T-12.6	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:	850 lm @ 100h	785 lm @ 40% life
Luminous Efficacy:	65.4 lm/W @ 100h	60.4 lm/W @ 2000h
Colour Temperature & CRI:	CCT: 2700K	CRI: Ra 81
Chromaticity Co-ordinates:	CCx: 0.460	CCy: 0.414
Lifetime:	10,000 hours
Warm-up & Re-strike Time:	1 minut	Instant
Burning Position:	Universal
Overall Length:	190.5 mm	7.5 inches
Lighted Area:	142 x 27 x 13 mm	4³/₁₆ x 1¹/₁₆ x ¹/₂ inches
Mass:
Factory:	Circleville, OH	U.S.A.
Date of Manufacture:	1986 September	Date Code: 81
Original Value:


References:	1) GE Large Lamp Catalog #9200, 1986 USA p.82
	2) GE Large Lamp Catalog #9200, 1987 USA p.82