Thread: Curly Light Bulb Flicker Hack?

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Has anyone tried to make a flicker hack for one of the new curly flourescent bulbs?



My front porch light is a flourescent and it started flickering yesterday. I really liked it, but it only lasted for about 10 minutes.

It did make me wonder if anyone has opened up the components of one of those curly bulbs and change or add something that would make it flicker like the tealights.

Yes you can and the good thing about it, it only takes seconds to make it happen. Not minutes...SECONDS and ZERO SKILL.

If you can answer this question you can make this....

How many haunters does it take to screw in a light bulb?

I will upload a vid shortly...It took me 10 minutes from reading your post to going out in the garage and getting what you asked for....that includes the time it took me to get up from my chair, walk out back, fix the effect and find my camera, take the video and get back in and make this post.

OK here's the video and the effect is a lot better than the video because I took it in a hurry and got a lot of glare.


This little button is what makes it flicker. You drop it in the light fixture and screw in the bulb and that's it.

That's fantastic, but what is that little button? Is that something you pick up at a home improvement store? Perhaps Radio Shack?

Okay, thanks to Google's Image Search, I see that it's a Cooper 12030 Flasher Button. Looks like several places sell them online. I'll have to see if anyone sells them locally. If not, I'll go ahead and order some online.

Out of curiosity, where did you pick yours up?

Here's one source - http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/Pro...aspx?SKU=30906

I found 10 of them at a yard sale for $2.

I know Ace Hardware use to carry them always check the flash rate because some flash 65-80 flashes a minute and some flash 15 times a minute.

Found them online at BIC Warehouse for $2.75 per, and shipping was really cheap!!

I went ahead and ordered 5.

Also, you can keep in mind that those curly lights don't like to be dimmed and will blink erratically if you try.