Why are you not supposed to use the little squirly, energy efficient light bulbs in a circuit wjith a timer?

Question

At least thats what the instructions say.

Answer 1

You can, I've been running 3 - 35 watt blue ones as a lamp grow light for over a year with no problem, with a timer.

A timer is no more than an off-on switch controlled by a motor or a relay.

as long as you don't cycle the light frequently, it will be fine.

.

Answer 2

I think you're confusing timer with dimmer. You cannot use a dimmer because the base of the bulb is actually a little high voltage power supply that needs the normal voltage to make a high voltage big enough to ionize the gas in the tube. Gas ionization is a threshold phenomenon; it happens abruptly at a critical voltage.