Light bulbs as dim as the politicians who force them on us.
on 12/03/2008 at 09:03 AM
Actually the CF bulb is pretty much already on the way out.
LED lights (which use far less energy than CF’s, contain no mercury and make far more lumens of light) are going to replace everything shortly.
They’ll also burn 1000 times longer and cost less, too.....
Posted by TimO
12/03/2008 at 11:28 AM
Right, TimO. Now tell me where to buy one that works on 120vAC. Oh, and how much do they cost? Thanks.
Posted by emdfl
12/03/2008 at 11:51 AM
C Crane is an excellent, and trusted by myself, purveyor of all that is electronic and good in this world. You can find them Here..
I am using, read: testing, one in my hallway, and another as a reading light, and so far, so good. Bright, and they turn on instantly. They may be a bit more expensive, but the have a half-life that plutonium or Twinkies would be proud of, according to a few sources that I have always found reliable.Bill
120V AC I can’t tell you how much I hate 120V. LED lights are a nice idea and with the switch mode power supplies should be compatible with 120V and proper 230V electrics.
Some years ago when CFLs were first coming out at $10+ each, we had a guy in the machine shop who was rabid about wanting everyone to go out and replace their old bulbs with the things. “Think of all the money you will save!”
So, me being the skeptic that I am, I got my spreadsheet going and did a cost analysis on the basis of: 1) Electricity costs rise 6% per year, 2) I generally replace a regular light bulb every year at $1 each, 3) CFL bulbs actually last 8 years (haven’t had one make it yet), 4) Lights were on 4 hours each day on average.
I figured it would take 8 years to pay for the CFL in energy saved. The guy was floored, and it pretty much shut him up.
Now that they are about $2 each, it’s worth changing a few. Ones that don’t matter much, like the porch lights. For the house I have a stash of regular bulbs.
I am learning to like the new CFL bulbs. We have some poorly made track lighting in the kitchen that has 6 lamps on it, each rated for 60W bulbs. Either the rating is wrong, or the quality of light bulbs is so poor; the thing eats bulbs. It doesn’t matter if I used regular, long life, or super duty vibrating appliance bulbs, they would burn out inside a few weeks. I replaced them all with Phillips 100W Equivalent CFLs and haven’t had a problem since. That was over a year ago. The kitchen is nice and bright, albeit with a slight green cast to the light.
We have another light in one of the bedrooms, a torchier lamp. It’s a lovely thing, well made from a famous lamp company. It used to eat 200W bulbs on a regular basis. One more CFL went in there, and again, it’s run for over a year. When I can remember to find a small enough CFL to fit inside the hall lamp it will get one too, and I will have no more bulb eating lamps left in my home.
My gripe against the common incandescent light bulb is that they seem to be really poorly made. I am reminded of the last years of vinyl records, when the discs became so thin and flexible that they came out of the sleeve warped, and wouldn’t sit flat on the platter even with the heaviest spindle weight. Regular light bulbs have become garbage. The premium bulbs are an even worse rip-off; the so called “reading bulbs” cost much more per bulb and all that gets you is a quick spray of blue dye inside the glass.
Halogen and Metal Halide bulbs produce a nice “white” light, and the bulbs last, but they throw off tremendous amounts of heat. I’ll look into the latest generation of LED lights, but for now I think the best balance of life, light color, cost, temperature, and energy usage might be those high efficiency T5 fluorescents, except the ones that work the best are rather large and ugly.
Aaaah ... light bulbs, light spectrums, luminosity, and cost efficiency are one of those subjects that just fascinates me. I can get sucked into wasting hours on this stuff at the drop of a hat. Run away Drew, run away!!
My only issue with fluorescent is the flicker. I have an eye issue that makes the flicker of the lights discernible to me, and will give me a headache if I have just woken up, or am tired. Gives me a headache. It may be rooted in my dyslexia, who knows. I do think they have their place, like in lights that see constant duty, and god knows, I am cheaper than a Scotsman on a shopping spree, even a 50% saving for a few lights is good.
Metal Halide lamps, as you pointed out are good. I use one in one of my reading lights, as one of my constant experiments, but you can get a sun tam from, or cook an egg on them. So far, my test of the LEDs go well. I am using one in my work area, where I do electronic work. I can see the smallest of precision screws, and in a reading light in my bedroom, which actually makes reading easier. I plan on getting a flood light to see if it illuminates my yard any better. If the performance of my LED flashlight is any indicator, it should be, hopefully, it’s life and energy savings will defray the cost of the bulb.Bill
Drew stay away from http://candlepowerforums.com
THE LED home brew and flash light forums
Posted by Wild Adventurer
12/03/2008 at 10:57 PM
We have ‘art’ lighting in our house (previous owner was an artist) - most of the main rooms run on dimmers - alas we also have one of those CFL thingys bagged in the garage - died almost instantly (ok maybe a week of use). Between the two - I buy the uber boxes of ‘real’ lightbulbs every time I can - building up a nice little supply.
I will talk with the hubby about LED - he is a fan.
Once again - America has a problem - a stupid vapid enviro idea that got the ‘mandate’ before the results were in.
I can’t believe that any real American would ever let the Government tell them what light bulbs to use.
What is going on in this beloved Country of Mine?
incandescent light bulbs here pretty cheap but as some have pointed out, the things do burn out in some cases rather quickly.
I honestly don’t understand the arguments made by the greens that I MUST (and the euro-govts. all seem to agree) give up using the old fashioned bulbs. While not outlawed as yet, they are going to make it impossible to get them in the next year.
I wouldn’t mind the energy efficient bulbs if they gave me the light I need to read by.
Phillips and the electric company here have been giving away those new fangled low light (to my eyes) bulbs. I tried using one that made the claim it was equiv. to 100w incandescent. Like hell. Not even close. More like a 40w.
Now when they arrive in the mail I don’t even open the pack. I give them to a friend who does like them.Will continue to buy and hoard the ones that I know from my own experience, work.
That said, based on what some of you folks have posted here, it looks like there actually are energy efficient bulbs in the US that are now improved from what I saw available over four years ago. But I haven’t seen any here in England like that, altho I sure they must be around someplace.
When I remodeled my house I decided to go environmenally friendly. I attempted to replace all the bulbs with CFL’s. However, they do not work with dimmer switches, nor do they make them for 3-way lamps. They also are too big for small lamps that take a smaller bulb. So I have a lot of CFL’s but also several regular bulbs - so not totally eco-friendly!
Posted by Pixie
12/04/2008 at 11:02 AM
12/03/2008 at 01:22 PM
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