Posted: 3/31/2010 3:47:18 PM EDT
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I know we all hate CFL's, and conventional incandescent bulbs are fragile and space-intensive to store. I've contemplated putting some of them in .50 cal ammo cans in the shed. Seriously. What if the cabinet I have full of the damned things falls off the wall when the New Madrid Fault cuts loose? Then there are the rumors that Obama's EPA will ban the things eventually, etc.
I remember a gadget that either Brookstones or Sharper Image sold in the '80's, it was a thin diode you put in the socket that converted AC to DC. Allegedly Thomas Edison's Florida house is still run on DC and has the original bulbs, so this little thing would make your bulbs last forever too. Then there's been the LED revolution of the last few years. Does anyone make a LED light that replaces a standard household 60w bulb? So what has the SF hive come up with for the light bulb issue? |
| why the hate for the CFL's? my whole house is running them and i have no issues. as for your statement about the DC bulbs, that is complete and udder BULLSHIT. if that were the case you would NEVER have a blown bulb in your car/truck/suv and that just isnt the case. as for this magic diode, i have never heard of it. you need a converter to take 120v down to 12v. wallwarts do this for things like cell phone chargers and even things like you DSL modem and cordless phone and as you can see, they are a LOT bigger than just a diode. led's are out there but they are big money last i checked. it has been a while so they could have come down but i doubt it. |
| I don't hate the CFLs. I've switched almost all the bulbs in my house to them, and think they're an improvement in most ways over incandescent bulbs. For survival applications, I think they'd be better than incandescent bulbs in most situations, especially the fact that they use less electricity. |
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Same here, I'm a fan of CFLs. I use a few rough service bulbs, and an incandesent in the fixtures in the garage (instant on in the winter- plus it warms the CFL so it comes on quicker). I also have a couple of stand alone incandesents outside for lights that need to be instant on. Everything else is CFL/tubes/MH. I've been real happy using wobble lights in liu of halogen for portable work lights.
I doubt we will see a ban on incandesent bulbs- they have some realy safety advantages in certain situations were LEDs won't work or are two costly. If you sacrafice efficiency, the bulbs will last a long time- great for obstruction lights, exit lights, etc. |
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We use CFLs in non-critical places and for large area lighting; the porch and outside lights, patio light, hallway, spare bedroom, and half of the kitchen. The main living room lights and master bedroom are going to stay incan unless something really better comes out. We've tried numerous types and brands and we both get headaches and some eyestrain trying to read or do any long-term computer usage by CFLs.
Our "infrastructure" emergency lighting for powerfails is all CFL; no qualms about it for that at all. One UPS which shuts down its attached computer fairly quickly, preserving charge, can run a couple of CFLs for many hours and provide better light than even a very good battery lantern. I found an article on incan bulb savers here if anyone is interested. |
| I don't like CFLs because our house is painted with unique colors. Deep red in the kitchen, gold walls in hallways, etc. The CFLs slightly bluish tint makes the reds look kinda purple and the gold a greenish tint. I got some nice Panasonics (CFLs) a few years back that are true color, can't find them anymore. |
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I don't like CFLs because our house is painted with unique colors. Deep red in the kitchen, gold walls in hallways, etc. The CFLs slightly bluish tint makes the reds look kinda purple and the gold a greenish tint. I got some nice Panasonics (CFLs) a few years back that are true color, can't find them anymore. you can buy "DAYLIGHT" CFLs, or different temp colors. the early ones were fairly yellow. newer bulbs are fairly normal "cool white", but the "daylight" ones still seem a bit funky. i was going to get all daylight bulbs for my home office... but i decided i didn't really like the color. i've got mostly CFLs in the whole house here. i can turn EVERY freakin' light in the house on, and it's only using about 300W. the only things that are not CFL are things like the light under the microwave, the light inside the microwave, the light in the fridge and some of the lights in the ceiling fans. LED bulbs that replace standard bulbs are available online, at most hardware stores or at Wal-Mart. unfortunately right now they're very expensive. and i remember the little wafer that you'd put in the bulb socket... it didn't convert the AC to DC, it just let the bilb "soft start" instead of coming on full power, it would slowly increase to full power. i never bought any even tho they seemed interesting. haven't seen any for years... but then i ahven't looked for them. in a few years, you'll probably see lamps and lighting fixtures with LED arrays and not Edison base bulbs. but LED bulbs need to drop in price. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I don't like CFLs because our house is painted with unique colors. Deep red in the kitchen, gold walls in hallways, etc. The CFLs slightly bluish tint makes the reds look kinda purple and the gold a greenish tint. I got some nice Panasonics (CFLs) a few years back that are true color, can't find them anymore. you can buy "DAYLIGHT" CFLs, or different temp colors. the early ones were fairly yellow. newer bulbs are fairly normal "cool white", but the "daylight" ones still seem a bit funky. i was going to get all daylight bulbs for my home office... but i decided i didn't really like the color. i've got mostly CFLs in the whole house here. i can turn EVERY freakin' light in the house on, and it's only using about 300W. the only things that are not CFL are things like the light under the microwave, the light inside the microwave, the light in the fridge and some of the lights in the ceiling fans. LED bulbs that replace standard bulbs are available online, at most hardware stores or at Wal-Mart. unfortunately right now they're very expensive. and i remember the little wafer that you'd put in the bulb socket... it didn't convert the AC to DC, it just let the bilb "soft start" instead of coming on full power, it would slowly increase to full power. i never bought any even tho they seemed interesting. haven't seen any for years... but then i ahven't looked for them. in a few years, you'll probably see lamps and lighting fixtures with LED arrays and not Edison base bulbs. but LED bulbs need to drop in price. Under our microwave is a 24" tube so no cfl there We also use a 48" in the work shop and the garage. And a 48" skinny over the computer. |
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Anyone else remember the story about the stop lights that were converted to led and then they did not melt the ice and snow off of themselves this past winter? I have a few incandescents bought and kept in a cabinet and the house I am renting has some of the cfls already installed in a few places. I don't worry about it all that much. I am just waiting for led stuff to become more common. |
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Anyone else remember the story about the stop lights that were converted to led and then they did not melt the ice and snow off of themselves this past winter? Let me tell ya - That's a HUGE problem here in South Texas! 
I like CF bulbs just fine - even bought a 12 volt DC version at Camping World. |
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Dealextreme.com has lots of LED alternatives for regular bulbs, they have a very broad selection. They even have some that are pretty cool, remote controled LED bulbs that fit your ordinary lamp and have brightness and different colors available. Those are more expensive of course.
FerFAL |
| I got a box of 5000 40w bulbs at an auction for 10 bucks in 1995. I still have most of them. I have not bought an incandescent bulb since 1995! I have bought a couple higher watt CFL's for the kitchen. They burned out about a year later. I found out the those bulbs should not be used in enclosed fixtures. |
| We have almost all CFL bulbs in the house and we like them. They do take some getting used to but now that we've been using them for awhile, we like them a lot. Most have been working steadily for the past two years. One in the kitchen has been running non stop for the past two years. |
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Oh, the stupid diodes were something I saw in a catalog when I was in elementary school. I don't even know if what the tour guides at Edison's Florida house said about the bulbs was true. There's a firehouse somewhere in the US that has an Edison bulb that has run for 100 years without ever being turned off...the key with this particular bulb is that the filament is insanely larger compared to current incandescents. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243138/Still-glowing-strong-109-years-worlds-oldest-lightbulb.html |
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Maybe something's changed since I tried the damn things, but I have a lot (almost every light in the house) of dimmer controls in my lamps, pot lighting, etc., and you couldn't use a CFL with a dimmer. When a couple of my outside lights quit (pole light, spotlights) I tried replacing them with CFLs. After replacing the socket and daylight sensor in the pole light, I found out that THEY won't work with CFLs either. The spotlight fixtures (with motion sensors) didn't work either. After wasting a day trying to "fix" what wasn't broken, I wound up beating the piss out of the CFLs in my driveway.
Now I've got two.......porchlight and ceiling light in my garage. Of course I can't run a dusk-to-dawn sensor on my porchlight because the damned things won't work. Do the "new" ones actually work in anything other than has an "on-off" switch, or are they still the pieces of shit they used to be? (it WAS fun beating the fuck out of them, though....good anger management!). |