Home Energy Management Pineapple Now Offering Dimmable CFL from TCP

Pineapple Now Offering Dimmable CFL from TCP

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SAINT CHARLES, MO.—Pineapple Hospitality introduces the new TruDim CFL from TCP, Inc. The TruDim CFL performs like a traditional incandescent bulb—with dimming capability all the way down to 2 percent of lighting capacity—with all the environmental benefits of CFL technology.

“In the past, dimmable CFL bulbs would flicker when they got to the lower end of their lighting range,” says David Geraci, CFL product manager for TCP. “This is because typical dimmer switches are built for incandescent bulbs, not CFLs. This flicker creates not only a bad visual experience, but it can actually cause early failures for the bulbs. The TruDim bulb was designed to eliminate that flicker while dimming all the way down to 2 percent. No other CFL has been able to successfully dim that low before.”

Geraci explains that when it is set below 2 percent, the TruDim won’t flicker, it won’t fail—it will actually shut itself off, preserving electricity and protecting the bulb from damage.

“Previously, there were no suitable and affordable options to retrofit recessed can lighting in meeting rooms and lobbies—the two most common uses for this new technological advance,” says Ray Burger, president of Pineapple Hospitality. “TruDim lighting matches the output you’d expect from a traditional incandescent light, at a price that beats the LED solutions on the market today. We’re very excited to have the opportunity to bring this unique solution and its benefits to the industry.”

High Performance Ballast Design

According to TCP, TruDim utilizes a patent-pending high performance CFL ballast design that features proprietary NXP GreenChip power management IC chip technology. This innovation gives the TruDim CFL smoother full range dimming performance, which is designed to more accurately match the human eye’s reactions, making the dimming function more pleasing to the end-user.

“People are so used to incandescent lighting, they want and expect the same kind of performance from the CFL,” says Geraci. “With the TruDim, we can plot the lighting output and find it is step-for-step equal to incandescent lights along the dimming range. That is the kind of seamless transition people have been waiting for.”

TruDim also offers a fast start up, achieving full brightness more than 75 percent faster than other comparable products. TCP’s advanced digital InstaBright technology boosts the CFLs’ power briefly to increase initial lumen output and then adjusts to normal output levels after 30 to 45 seconds.

TruDim technology will also enable low-dimming level starting capability, which reduces the need to reset the dimmer to full-on every time the lights are turned on.

Bulb ‘Remembers’ Percentage

“If you turn the bulb off at 10 percent, it will turn on at 10 percent,” says Geraci. “Other dimmable CFLs have to start off at 100 percent output. This is the user-friendly convenience factor we designed into the TruDim.”

TruDim bulbs are rated for 12,000 hours of average life, reducing the burden on a property’s maintenance department. Other CFLs rate out at 8,000 hours.

Pineapple Hospitality offers TruDim in several lamp styles, including R30 16-watt, R20 14-watt, A-Lamp 16-watt and 14-watt, and 14-watt Globes. TruDim works with all standard rotary and slide dimmers in any application where incandescent is used. These include: table lamps, wall sconces, recessed cans, chandeliers and ceiling fixtures. All TruDim CFLs are also now available with TCP-ARMOR shatter-resistant lamp coating that helps contain the lamp glass and other elements should a CFL be dropped or broken.

Go to Pineapple.

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