Oh I like these

[SeaCat]

If you haven't played with them yet, the new Flourescent Lights are great. Picture a bulb with the output of a 100 watt light and the draw of a 40 watt light. More light for less money. They last longer too.

The only drawback I have found with them is they don't fit in all lamps. In some cases they are too long, and in more cases they spread out too quickly and won't fit in the lamp. (They won't fit in many Torchier type lamps.)

Even so I like these.

Anyone else played with them?

Cat

 

[starrkers]

Yep. Love 'em. Use them in every light fitting in the house. They last forever.

 

[Weird Harold]

Yep. Love 'em. Use them in every light fitting in the house. They last forever.

I just wish they did. This thread reminded me I need to replace my reserve bulb because one of the two in the bathroom died -- it's the fourth to die in that fixture since I started using 15w/60 Lumen flourescents ten years ago when I moved in this apartment.

I use them in the four light fixtures that are most used (a total of five bulbs) and had to replace eleven or twelve of them over ten years -- NOT the kind of service life that are claimed for them.

After watching Mythbusters test of the "it takes more electricity to turn a light on and off than it does to leave it on" myth, I'm strongly tempted to invest in the new LED-cluster version of low energy "bulbs" -- they use even less energy than the flourescents and stand up to constant on-off cycles better than any other lighting option. In the Mythbusters' ON/OF test, the LED was the only bulb to survive the complete test; by about three times as many on/off cycles as the nearest competition!

FWIW, the mythbusters showed that if you're going to be out of a room more than about 20 seconds, it's cheaper to turn the light off as far as power consumption is concerned but it does shorten the service life of almost any kind of bulb -- except the LED cluster.

 

[SimonBrooke]

If you haven't played with them yet, the new Flourescent Lights are great. Picture a bulb with the output of a 100 watt light and the draw of a 40 watt light. More light for less money. They last longer too.

The only drawback I have found with them is they don't fit in all lamps. In some cases they are too long, and in more cases they spread out too quickly and won't fit in the lamp. (They won't fit in many Torchier type lamps.)

Even so I like these.

Anyone else played with them?

Cat

They're pretty much normal in the UK now, and (I think) much of the rest of Europe. We have only one filament lamp left in the house, and that's only there because that room has a fancy electronic light switch which doesn't work unless it's got 40 watts of load.

I've just started moving some of the lighting over to LEDs, which are potentially even more practical than coiled tube flourescents.

 

[Vermilion]

The fiance wants to play around with LED lighting and other economical/ecological alternatives when we get our own place (as opposed to renting). V. useful to have an engineer on hand
x
V

 

[starrkers]

Haven't seen LEDs. Will have to get up to speed on lighting before we get to that stage with our house construction.

 

[Liar]

Haven't used anything but flourescents for the last two years.

Haven't had to change a light in that time either.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

We have them in a few places throughout the house, and will have them in all fixtures once all of the old bulbs break.

However, the one in my bedroom will never last forever because there is something wrong with the wiring in there. No bulb is allowed to last more than six months in there. They all overheat and break. It's as if the power surges through constantly just to annoy me.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Got 'em, use 'em. I have several different kinds...a couple I picked up at Ikea where the flourescent tubing is inside a frosted plastic outer coating to make it look like a standard incendescent bulb.

The only place I don't use them in outside in the fixtures on the garage in the cold weather. They don't seem to get bright enough.

 

[mjl2010]

I use them. As our incandescents wear out I replace them with the coiled flourescents. Most of the lights I use the 60/15 watt replacements. In a few places I use the 100/40 watt ones.

It's true, in a cold area they don't get as bright. The light outside my front door is like that. It also takes a just a second to come on when it's cold. Like last night it was 10 F outside. Flip the switch and it's a good 1/4 second before the light comes on. No big deal but it takes getting used to because for a split second you think the light failed.

I get about two years out of these lights in most places except the hall and the kitchen. There I get about a year.

A note on that, and I didn't see the mythbusters episode either. All lights are rated for a lifespan in hours. So if you have a light that's on a lot more than a lot of the others, it won't last as long in months or years.

 

[SeaCat]

They're pretty much normal in the UK now, and (I think) much of the rest of Europe. We have only one filament lamp left in the house, and that's only there because that room has a fancy electronic light switch which doesn't work unless it's got 40 watts of load.

I've just started moving some of the lighting over to LEDs, which are potentially even more practical than coiled tube flourescents.

What is the cost of a 60 Lumen LED Bulb as opposed to a 60 Lumen Flourescent?

Cat