low wattage fluorescent bulbs?

[rwg]

Does anyone know where to find low wattage 12 or 18 inch fluorscent bulbs? Ideally I'd like to find something equivalent to about 30 watts incandescent. That't probably bee around 8-10 watts fluorescent. The lowest I found at Rona where I bought my fixtures were 15 watts. I find 15 watts a bit on the bright side for my enclosures. Maybe I should have used a dark melamine instead of white.

[Shane Tesser]

I had a similar problem with too much light. What i ended up doing was putting a small strip of duct tape along the bottom of the lamp to get the desired light i needed. Duct tape can take the heat, it is moisture proof, and it sticks like crazy. It lasted for so many years ill guess and say it was on there for over 10. Hope this helps.

[klein]

why couldn't you wire it up to a dimmer and then get the desired light that way?

Nick

[Edwin]

Dimmers do not work on fluorescents, but you are right, they would be perfect for incandescents.

[rwg]

I tried a dimmer...It'll dim a little bit and then starts to flicker. The tape solution seems reasonable other than being a waste of watts. If I cant get dimmer bulbs then that's what I'll do.

rg

[Lisa]

you could paint the bulb.