Posted on 03/28/2009 3:34:42 AM PDT by reaganaut1
My wife just bought a OttLite, probably the most expensive CFL out there. The bulb lasted two days before the light output dropped and it started to flicker, rendering it useless. I don’t blame the fluorescent technology but the shoddy manufacturing and cheap electronic parts in the base. There needs to be better quality control.
Warm daylight fluorescents? Easily available warm fluorescents (linear) come in 3000K, at the other end what's known as daylight are anywhere from 5000K (stocked in suppliers) up to 6500K (special order). Warm compacts are usually 2700K. The warm ones are yellow / orange color while the daylight are very cool, kind of blueish. Inexpensive LED's like those sold for outdoor solar lights and Christmas strings are even more cool, that's why the blue look.
I think that mean that youre using linear fluorescents in this panel, compacts don't have the life that you'd want above a bath. Another factor is what system is being used to dim the lamps, standard rotary dimmers will work with the correct ballast but there's usually a buzzing while systems dedicated to dimming (Lutron for one) are much quieter and offer better range.
I share your sentiments on CFLs and fluorescent lights in general. If you’re inclined, please check out scoptic sensitivity syndrome and the Irlen Institute (www.irlen.com). I was diagnosed when I was in my early 20’s. It’s no fun.
I constantly find it remarkable how government desk jockeys and nanny state socialists never want to allow free market to do its work. Instead they outlaw inovation in favor of government fiat.
The problem with CF are obvious and stated. By pushing CF they are preventing better tech (ie LED) to full and VIABLY develop.
While at work a week ago, one of our vendors dropped by with his normal collection of electronic parts. He did have one item that was new, a 2 kilowatt LED (with heatsink). I must say, the demo was impressive. From a single little tiny 3/8” part, I’ve never seen so much light (and heat). That thing was like looking at the sun. I have no idea how much money these gems will cost, but they are certainly bright enough, and are evidently available.
I have had similar experience with the only fluorescent I have used.
Incandescent 30 day life. Fluorescent 1 year and counting.
I bought a 2 pack of fluorescents a year ago. One is still in the pack.
I hate the color of the light.
Two ways to sell a new product. #1 Build a better mouse trap and the people will come. #2 Build a lousy mouse trap and get a government mandate.
I have several of the new bulbs, the twisty kind and they have worked great. I had them in porch fixtures and in lamps in the house. After all the talk about mercury danger if they break, I removed them from indoor lamps and will use them outside until I hear that scare was a hoax. But so far none of the outside bulbs have needed replacing.
One of my sons has never been able to tolerate flourescent lighting. He started having noticable problems with it when he was about 8. In less than an hour the lights start causing the visual problems you describe, and if he does not get away from them he will go first into absence seizures, and eventually grand mal with continued exposure. We have put the CFLs around our house, except in rooms where he’ll be for long periods, like the dining room and kitchen. He’s 32 now, so doesn’t live with us anymore, but still likes Mom’s cooking and visits often.
He runs into a problem at the store where he works. Thankfully, it’s a small store with glass covering most of the front of the main room so he can get natural light most of the time. When it is cloudy you’ll often find him behind the counter with a serious set of sun-glasses on that look like goggles with shade protectors closing off the frames around his face to avoid light leakage.
I’d advise that if CFL cause you to have a headache, you seriously need to stay away from them. You are right to stockpile light bulbs now.
I’ve some good and bad luck with the durability of them, some of them last forever, some other ones burn out as fast or faster than a regular bulb.
Another reason I like them is you can use them in hot rooms in your house, they use a fraction of the heat of an incandescent.
I put them in my home gym and they’ve worked great at holding heat down in a room that I want to stay cool during a workout.
How do you legally dispose of them when they die?
Are they really a danger when they break?
That is my big complaint when considering them.
The light of the future will be LCD’s. They are getting better all the time.
LCD’s=Led’s
Okay, let's face it - I'm too cheap to spring for the custom filters, and too vain to wear them regularly.
Oh, and as I've read up on LED - it's the same stuff packaged a little differently. I won't be able to use them, either, so it's stockpile, have no drapes or curtains to let in natural light and work from home as much as possible.
Had them all over my house till my sister got me very paranoid that if a bulb breaks you have to get a hazard waste crew to come in and clean it so I got rid of every single one and left them in a Walmart shopping cart for someone else to use.
I have CFL everywhere practical.
They are positively the best for use in a garage door opener. I used to have to replace the garage opener incandescent bulbs so often due to vibration, that I gave up on replacing them. I have had the same CFL’s in the opener for years now.
I also used an 150w equivalent CFL to replace the 500w incandescent in the pool light fixture. The 500w bulb almost ruined the underwater fixture from the high heat. Rather than replacing the $200 fixture, I was able to replace the socket, and have had no further problem since switching to the CFL. Not as bright, but I actually prefer the softer lighting.
I don’t mind the time lag, I just can’t SEE under the damned things.
I have to step out into sunlight to see the difference between navy and black. For me, they suck!
First. I have a couple of these ‘green’ bulbs in areas that are hard to reach, such as the garage ceiling, and the hallway to the house from the garage. Usually left burning for hours and hours. The bulbs have been up there for a couple of years. No problem at all.
I have a ceiling fan/light fixture that is let’s say 15 feet off the ground. Need a *really* tall ladder to get to. I’ve been in my house 4 years or so and the first incandescents did pretty well in that location, maybe 1 of the 3 burned out. Using the same logic as you did I put 3 CFL’s up there. Within a few months one of the CFL’s went poof and died. The other 2 are still working. I also seem to remember that 1 of the CFL’s that I got never worked to begin with. And no, there is no rheostat, on this fixture.
I’m not impressed.
I called them “warm” as mentioned because the color for what we both know as “warm” cannot be used; they were more bluish but the lamps, when turned all the way up, were warm. I depended upon the lighting engineer for help in this area. The bulbs are linear; compacts would show “hot spots” through the opaque ceiling panels.
You’re correct about the dimmers; they are Lutron. These are very picky clients. Every wall was insulated with sound batting. Any noise, except that coming from the compact Bose speakers, is an issue. With three 52” flat screen TVs in the apartment, I really could not understand why they bothered with all the insulation.
The LEDs in the apartment, as well as the one the contractor gave me, are a whiter light than those I have seen elsewhere. Very nice! Since the bulb doesn’t have a manufacturer’s name on it, it has been difficult finding more like it.
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